Assassin amongst assasins
by Katsura369
Summary: There's a new girl entering Kunugigaoka Academy and she's making quite the impression on everyone. A smiling; blunt; bookworm with no filter or respect for boundaries; but is that really all? Nope-she's an ex-assassin. In hiding and barely holding onto her humanity; what happens when she's introduced to the various teachers and students of Kunugigaoka?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, so I've been watching and reading this anime Assassination classroom and it inspired me to start writing a novel and this fanfiction will help me with some ideas. Hope you enjoy also to kick off the first chapter I've updated a couple of my other stories since I know it's been a really long time.**

 **Summary**

 **There's a new girl entering Kunugigaoka Academy and she's making quite the impression on everyone. A smiling; blunt; bookworm with no filter or respect for boundaries; but is that really all? Nope-she's an ex-assassin. In hiding and barely holding onto her humanity; what happens when she's introduced to the various teachers and students of Kunugigaoka? Things are about to get pretty interesting...**

* * *

A cruel storm brewed, high winds and smattering of rain howled through the air making it almost impossible for voices to travel-for anything to travel. This was the kind of storm that had most people hiding in their homes safely tucked under the comforters near a warm fire but some were not so lucky. On a far out interstate road, lying on its side was a red car. Sirens could barely be heard as heavy footsteps pounded on the plain grass field towards the car, as they inspected the wreck with sympathetic yet unwavering expressions.

"This is horrible, doesn't look like these two in front are alive."

"That's so sad, looks like a family coming back from vacation."

"Yeah, it's painful to see things like this."

"I don't think we'll be operating on-

"No look there's two more in the back!"

"What?"

"I think they're still breathing, quickly help me pull them out"

The two men shuffled over to the side and leaned down to the broken window. There-secured by their safety belts were two children who appeared to be half conscious, limbs hanging looking like rag dolls with visible injuries that would take almost as much time to heal as their inner wounds that would open the minute they reawaken.

"We better call child services while we're at it..."

* * *

The underworld has always been a reference to describe most of the unpleasant activities that occur in society and if it had always been left to its own devices there wouldn't be much hope for the world, it would crumble under the influence of man leaving nothing behind, it could destroy the ways of life itself but counter measures has been taken to prevent such an unfortunate fate. These counter measures came in the form of secret service organisations that served clandestinely under world leaders. For years they have recruited only the best soldiers and military figures that society had to offer and they were given the tasks that would put their life on the line every time, the kind of tasks where if you failed there were most likely no second chances and where you'd have to be willing to sacrifice anything and go to great lengths to achieve your objectives but due to ill-fated circumstances the organisations become substantially smaller in numbers and were now in dire need of new recruits. Problem was there weren't enough qualified people left in the world to do the job, after all not many would want to put their lives on the line for the sake of people who wouldn't be able to credit them for what they did. It was a job that came with many cons and many dangers.

Therefore an initiative was taken that included taking civilians with little hope of survival in society and train them as new members of the organisation. There was a predicament however, because the organisation would need to train promised members from scratch their subjects needed not only to be considered hopeless members of society. They also needed to be young in order to give them time to develop, train and gain the proper skills to enter into the organisation and to secure a longer membership.

 _ **There are people in the world that no one can see and because of that they make good assassins.**_

Phoenix Academy and orphanage was a building that many would describe as a castle located far into the mountain region; to civilians it appeared to be nothing more than a regular school and orphanage. Rumours were that the director of the orphanage was nothing more than a very wealthy man with too much money and nothing better with do with his estate so he transformed it into a school for orphans, while it sounded like the school would be draining him of his fortune it actually made him a fortune with the products made in that facility, being the children from the orphanage themselves.

This orphanage didn't allow their children to be 'adopted' by just anyone. From the moment they set foot on those grounds, their fate is set in stone and they are no longer children that have lost their parents but material to be bent, shaped and moulded into the schools ideal product-an assassin. No one permanently left until they were accepted as a full-fledged assassin's and that didn't happen until it was approved and apparent that you were properly trained, able to withstand extreme levels of pain, until your heart was made of stone and you were stripped of your emotions until you were nothing more than an empty shell of the child you once were.

This was the policy of Phoenix orphanage and everyone that dwelled within its walls abided by it without question or defiance.

That was all-except one.

"Finally finished"

"How did the assignment go?"

"Endlessly troublesome"

"What do you mean? Did you have trouble with the enemy?"

"It wasn't the enemy-it was my charge."

A laugh echoed that bounced off the walls "Now it makes sense you got that one!"

"Ah yes it was, that one is handful but defiantly has skills."

"Skills for the job yes; the will for it-questionable at best"

"Tell me about it, I was this close to snapping."

"I hear you, I got her once for an assignment and let me tell you at the end of it; I would've preferred to have shot her instead of my target. When I gave out my orders and the plan she literally told me where everything was going to go wrong and when we went through with it anyway she turned out to be right on every point boy did that piss me off though her contingency plan she had prepped got me out of a tough spot but she mouths off like she doesn't give a damn, back when I was a recruit"

"True, she went against orders so many times we thought she was going rogue but it seems that it was due to her hunch that the enemy had known about the attack and she was right. She's got a knack to become the best of us."

"She's still a kid don't give her too much credit."

"Still I'm certain that she's going to be a real threat when she's discharged on her own soon."

"You'd think she does have one fault though"

"What's that?"

"She's the only one who refuses to kill."

* * *

It was early in the morning only 3 am as the girl lied silently on her bed with her reading light on and a book in her hands, she had long dark hair that flowed down her back that complemented her porcelain skin, shimmering silver eyes that at first glance made her look blind, her form was the simple night attire that everyone had been given, a white tank top and black tight pants.

Her small room was near empty, only a single bed, small closet for her set clothes provided by the school, a desk and shelf. They were advised not to hold any personal value to anything which was why most of the rooms were empty and held only the essentials, they were told that hobbies was a distraction to their duty's and that their time should be spent bettering themselves for their future 'career'.

The girl bit the bottom of her lip and frowned 'Future career? More like our brief career.'

Her name-she had one before but has never been called by it since her arrival she numbered agent 62, literally because there was the number on the back of her neck. While it may have seemed like nothing to the others here, she knew what it entailed. To strip away the identity of its barer and remove any thoughts of the world you once belonged to and knew. Everyone was more cooperative that way, very logical in her opinion. They all had one thing in common which this place used it its advantage and that was that they no longer had a place in the world. As they were, they were helpless, no one was there for them anymore to pick them up; they would've had to fend for themselves. Without a place in the world anymore they were brought here to Phoenix Academy and taught how to survive in the harshest ways possible but no one complained because soon it became all they knew. With their ties to society lost they had nothing to hold onto.

But she was different.

Because unlike the rest of them-she had what everyone else have already abandoned by now

She still had her humanity.

" _You have to let go of that 62, it's a dangerous thing in this field of work"_

" _So much promise-if only you would surrender yourself completely"_

" _Give into your primal instincts to survive 62; human beings are originally concerned only for their own well being."_

" _Forget about your concerns for others, they will just be a distraction for you and shorten your life"_

" _This line of work has no room for attachments"_

There was no such thing as 'life' as an assassin only death, they knew that yet they accepted it.

So how did 62, despite living under the exact same conditions, going through the same training, the same tests as hundreds of others; the same lessons were driven into her like the others yet how as she still so different than them? Why couldn't she detach herself from everything?

The answer was a lot simpler than expected.

She read-a lot.

The academy library was her sanctuary from this twisted, dark world she had been brought into. She read everything from fiction and fantasy to true stories and science, expanding her knowledge. The words on the pages were what kept her from losing herself entirely, from giving into the desires of others and maintaining a will that wouldn't be easily swayed. Though it was not easy after being in an environment meant for breeding killers, it was tough not to give into the blood lust but she refused to let it control her.

The curriculum in this place was enough to make a person break completely so that they could build you up.

There were other aspects that one needed before they could 'graduate' from Phoenix Academy, aside from being in top physical condition, being able to handle weapons like it was an extension of your arms and hands, knowing how to blend into enemy territory and play different roles to gather information and having proper combat skills. Everyone worked hard because it was the only way to be dispatched; it was also the only way they would be able to leave this place forever.

Looking at the time on her oddly big wrist watch she saw that it was precisely 3:07 am

'Three minutes.' She thought

She slipped on her ankle length boots, her jacket and threw a bag over her shoulders that she had under her bed.

'Here I go'

Moving to her desk she opened her laptop and began typing at an incredible pace. There was silence and only the sound of fingers hitting the buttons was heard for the last couple of minutes. She looked at her watch and counted.

'Five, four, three, two...'

Click

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

* * *

There was a blasting of an ear piercing siren. There was the distinct 'click' sound of her door. She smirked as she casually stepped out walking through the passage way in a crowd of several other people-students/agents walking towards the exit.

She followed along with them through the building; everyone was in a calm manor despite a fire alarm going off. There wasn't any sign of fire in their facility.

"How does a fire start at this time of night?" she heard one of them ask

"I don't know, probably just a glitch we've been having it for a month now."

"Yeah I'm sure that the fire alarms broken."

"But this place doesn't do fire drills; orders are that if we hear that bell we have to get out of the building."

"I bet this is just a fluke like the couple of other dozen times we've gone through this."

'Think so huh?' the girl wondered as she looked at her watch '3:13'am

* * *

Everyone was following calmly through the halls until they were only two floors away from the exit; they were all so use to taking these routes by now they could do it with their eyes closed.

'Which is what I'm counting on' she smirked as she looked back down to her watch.

"And now..."

3:15

BOOM!

There was a loud noise what could only be described as an explosion; then there was the strong smell of smoke but no signs of fire.

"There must've been a bomb near here!"

"I think I smell smoke!"

"What the hell was that?"

Watching as everyone became slightly more disoriented they started to pick up the pace heading towards the exit. It wasn't enough to call panic but they were more alert now than before.

'Which; is how I need it.'

There were several units in the building going from 1-20; the units 1-10 were for the different ranking of students. New comers were all in the 10th-unit and then there were the 9th units who had only been here for one or two years mostly younger students and the units continued until the 1rst-unit which included the older students who were on the verge of dispatching and took on the more difficult assignments.

They came up to where all of the units connected the agents in the A-units were surprised to find that the 2nd unit was there as well.

"Why are you all here? You should've been out of the building already!" one of the 1rst agents said.

"The 2nds units exit gate hasn't been opened for some reason"

"Guess we're heading through 1rst's unit then"

The group was bigger now and everyone was moving at a slower pace that 62 was sure they wouldn't have wanted to.

"This is really crowded"

"Like we have a choice just deal with it"

"Did you guys hear the explosion?"

"Yeah from our rooms and then the fire alarm went off."

"So that was a second explosion we heard?"

"Did someone plant a bomb in this building?"

"More than one obviously if that's the case."

"Who the hell would plant bombs in the building?"

"That's a dumbass question, there are plenty I can think of who'd want this place to burn to the ground."

"Doesn't matter because no enemy knows where to find this place right"

"Well I'm sure someone found it considering what's happening."

"You're saying we may have an intruder?"

"We don't know that for sure."  
"Well what else makes sense?"

62 smiled as some quarrels started around her between unit 1 and 2 their calm demeanours were slipping before their peers eyes as their overly cautious natures began to grip tighter onto them as talk of an intruder and bomber continued.

3:20 am

BOOM

There was another explosion heard only it was closer this time because the walls shook causing everyone to spike in caution. They looked around for any sign of the fire but there was none however it felt as if the explosions were moving in closer towards them and they were becoming more anxious to get out of the building now.

"Another explosion"

"Where do you think that came from?"

"I think it was the central unit."

"Don't even joke about that, that's just where we came from a few minutes ago."

Moving through the building was proving to be more of a challenge though because of the doubled group but finally they made it to unit 1's exit gate however...

Starring at the giant Iron Gate they were shocked to see-

"It's shut!"

"What the hell?"

"All gates are supposed to be opened during a fire alarm!"

"The first time there's a real fire and the damn gates can't open!"

"We've gotta turn back around now before-

3:25 am

BOOM

There was another explosion that was VERY loud and Very Close, the ground shook and some people fell to the ground.

Lured into a false sense of security with a month of faulty fire alarms, exhausted from being woken up at 3 in the morning to the sound of another fire alarm with their sense dulled from lack of rest, anxiety levels continuously spiked after they have barely calmed, explosions getting closer and closer towards them, all forms of exit seeming to be blocked...

"And now..." whispered 62

3:30

All lights went out.

"Oh crap!"

"What the fu-

"Why the hell-

There were the sounds of shuffling footsteps all around as students/agents tried to navigate their way through the pitch black darkness. They were trained to rely on their other senses should something like this occur but with all of the noises created by one another and the overcrowding cluster of bodies together and constantly moving around it was proving to be a difficult task.

Meanwhile in the midst of the chaos and panic stricken agents with a special pair of glasses over her eyes which enabled her to see through the darkness; was 62 manoeuvring her way through the crowd until she as in the clear hall ways which they came from.

Backtracking through the building, moving to the 2nds-unit's exit gate she stared at her watch again.

'Five, four, three, two-

The lights turned back on and the gate began opening, moving quickly through the gate 62 made her way outside onto a large field before continuing to make her way past the field and towards the giant stone walls of the academy.

She stopped in her tracks exactly 25 metres away from the walls; an invisible laser net surrounded the outskirts. Digging through her bag she pulled out a device with the appearance of a round, flat cylinder. Placing it on the ground the device activated surging an electric pulse through the net making it visible and possible for her to cut through with a knife.

* * *

She finally reached the wall and stared up at it, surrounding the entire academy-making entrance impossible without authorisation at the one main gate and even more impossible to leave.

"Too bad they don't keep the net out in the day" she muttered running over to the bushes near the wall and pulling out climbing equipment.

"Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to stash this here."

Swinging the grappling hook high until it was securely hooked on the wall after taking one last look at her watch she began to climb.

"3:50-ten minutes before all power is restore."

* * *

Finally with three minutes to spare she made it to the top of the wall, hooking her ropes up before quickly sliding down the wall to the ground and safety.

Just as she unhooked herself she saw all of the lights go on but it wouldn't matter now anyway with all the panic and power to the building only turning on now they were going to have everyone was going to have their hands full and wouldn't notice her absence for a while.

"I can't believe I did it." she said to herself.

Her plan had been made months in advance, hacking into the academies security system to set off the fire alarms so that she could get a proper evaluation of the building without rising suspicion, figuring out where to plant small bombs and timing them to go off at the proper moments, using her last bomb to turn off the power to the entire school by placing it on the main generator, ensuring that no one would be able to get to the backup generator which she had already taken care of in advance so it wouldn't automatically activate. Use the real fire as a form of distraction and darkness to give her enough time to scale the wall and escape.

The plan was a lot easier said than done, though the final steps were a lot simpler than the preparations were. Having to make the bombs and set the timers, hack into the systems. Had all taken months of preparation and would make you want to give up before you got to the final steps.

Running through the thick dense nature avoiding any road paths knowing that she would be too exposed there she continued through the dense woods of the mountains and didn't stop for nearly half an hour until she believed she was at a distance to catch her breath. Looking back she could still see the academy.

"This'll be the last time though and good riddance." She whispered as she disappeared into the night.

* * *

Three months later:

"We have a new transfer student joining us today, please be sure to make her feel welcome."

Soft footsteps were heard on tiled floors as a girl average height came strolling in, she had dark hair that seemed to have been recently cut to her shoulders, she wore the standard girls uniform- a skirt that ended mid-thigh with black stockings, a matching grey blazer and white shirt under with black tie.

"A transfer student?" someone whispered

"That's rare."

"Isn't the test to transfer really hard?"

"How did she manage to get into the A-class then?"

As she turned to face her new class mates she heard someone whisper 'Is she blind?'

Putting on a small smile she looked at the classroom "Hello everyone, my names Tsukimi Aria it's nice to meet you."

* * *

 **There you have it now I hope that you enjoyed the first chapter, I've been watching Assassination classroom recently and I just couldn't stop myself from writing this.**

 **Don't forget to review and if you've got any ideas for me feel free to tell me.**

 **AND NO FLAMES.**


	2. Chapter 2:impressions

**Well here's the next chapter nothing else to say really except enjoy.**

Kunugigaoka Junior High is a prestigious private school located in Tokyo, renowned for being one of the top schools in Japan. The school's academic system is different from others; it works on a 20:20:60 ratio, where 95% students are hard working and the other 5% are lazy and therefore denied privileges of the other 95%, the school has a main building with a spacious campus with many different facilities, then there was the satellite campus further up in the mountains where the 5% of under workings students were placed. For Aria it was the perfect place for the perfect cover.

'This is a good place.' Aria had thought, it was a logical choice in her eyes, she wouldn't stand out in a private school as an individual than she would in a public school, her abilities wouldn't be as restrained either.

Agent 62 AKA Aria Tsukimi had taken her new found freedom to return what was taken from her-a normal life in society and she knew that to do that she would need to get a valid education; Phoenix Academy form of education never bordered on the average school curriculum. Subjects like mathematics, language; science, social studies and biology was taught to them in a classroom like any other school however mathematics bordered more on calculating the range of your target from your weapon and measuring the perfect angle to eliminate your target, everyone there was taught five different language of their choice-after all you couldn't gather information in a foreign land if you didn't speak the language, science was taught almost the same way as you would teach in a normal school if it included working with vast quantities of deadly chemicals to create your own poisons and bombs, biology was also heavily focused on-it was important for an assassin to know the anatomy of their targets inside and out so they would know exactly where to hit and where to focus, social studies was also valuable to them, understanding the different cultures of their targets assisted in blending them into the background and taking on different roles.

All these lessons aided in assassination, it all depended on the approach taken when you learnt it, Phoenix Academy didn't have written exams for them-they were more hands on. Taking them out onto the field and having them used what they have learned to assist in assassinations by actual pro's who have signed themselves up as their 'teachers'.

'An assassin being a teacher, how hilarious' was what she had always said to them.

Also aware that her absence at the academy would not go unnoticed and that there would be a price on her head as there always were for those who went 'rogue' and an assassin in training was no exception. She would need to blend into society as much as possible with her array of languages she could've run away to another continent but that wouldn't matter as Phoenix Academy worked globally-there wasn't a place in the world they wouldn't be able to find her. So she went with the simplest trick in the book and remained where they wouldn't find her easily.

Right under their noses-in Japan-in Tokyo

Aside from her odd eye colour, there wasn't much to distinguish her from a normal Japanese girl.

It took three months after she arrived but she was finally able to get her new life on track, creating a fake identity easily; working different jobs to save up for her living expenses (not all necessarily legal) until she decided to go school and now would now work one part time job. She found a small apartment for herself where she wouldn't arouse much suspicion.

After she took the transfer exam and filled in the necessary papers she waited only a week before she received a letter saying that she had been accepted, given her test results and told when to arrive at school. She bought her uniform and other essential school items and had gone to meet with the principal on her first day right before homeroom.

Aria walked into the principal's office and at the far end of the large room there was a desk which was the only piece of furniture in the room which was poorly lit despite the blinds on all of the windows raised. There sat a man with purple eyes and brown hair neatly jelled back; wearing a neat suit, this was board chairman/principal/headmaster of Kunugigaoka Junior high, Asano Gakuho.

He looked at Aria.

"Right on time, welcome Tsukimi Ariana. I've been looking forward to meeting you."

Aria put on a smile that appeared completely natural "Thank you principal Asano I've been looking forward to meeting you as well."

"Oh is that so?" he asked maintaining his expression

She nodded

"Well, I have to congratulate you on your excellent performance on the transfer exams, a perfect score in every subject hasn't happened before. I'm rather interested in hearing about how you did it."

Aria let out a small giggle "It's not really relevant how I achieve my marks so long as I achieve them but no there was no trick sir simply doing what's expected. I believe that should be enough to satisfy any educator"

She wasn't lying when she said that but her rather blunt statement with a discrete way of telling Gakuho to mind his own business in terms of how she achieved her marks. She believed a teacher should be satisfied as long as the students reached their expectations, how it was done should be of little importance.

But achieving those marks were not as easy as she expected that was for certain; she actually had to study through textbook after textbook not so much to learn the content but to understand how to initiate the answers correctly so that they suited the mindset of a teenager and not that of an assassin.

Despite the small sliver of irritation with the girls statement Gakuho actually seemed satisfied with her answer "In that case, I expect great things from you; always uphold the standards of the school and you will reap the benefits."

Aria nodded "Of course I will; I wouldn't want to miss out on all of the benefits by failing to meet the schools standards."

There was a brief pause for Gakuho as if he was assessing whether or not to reply back on that comment but seemed to decide against it for now and went on.

"Normally we don't let transfer students into the A-class as it is reserved for the top students but due to your performance I've made an exception."

Aria smiled "I expected nothing else sir."

"Oh? And what do you entail by that?"

"Your schools system is like a perfectly designed machine with all its parts in perfect order working together to make it function but when due for an upgrade or additional pieces it's important to ensure that you place the parts where they are made to belong and if a part get's rusted or breaks you simply discard it from the machine and put it somewhere else where it can be of better use like as a display for the other parts to keep well polished and functional or the same fate ensures."

Gakuho smirked at the girls metaphor of insinuation "That's an interesting way of putting my school system but I think that is enough for today. You are going to be late for class."

She replied bowing her head slightly and turned to leave.

* * *

Now she was currently sitting in her desk, her mind anywhere but in the class room until the gruff sound of her teachers voice brought her back down to earth and from the window.

"Tsukimi -san"

Aria looked up from her "Yes sensei?"

"Since you seem to have nothing to do but day dream come up here and answer this problem on the board, I was informed that you've been homeschooled, so I understand if you're a bit slow-

Standing up she walked over to the board and began writing down the answer showing her workings which took her less than fifteen seconds.

'If I was standing at an angle of 107 degrees from my target which was exactly 13 metres away and I needed to be another x metres away from my target and my target needed to be at exactly 6 metres closer to get into my range then the answer here would be...I got it!'

She was new to the general forms of learning but for three months every night she hadn't wasted anytime in preparing herself for the more general points in learning after discovering her own method to things.

She finished the sum and placed the chalk back in the teacher's hands giving him an 'innocent' smile to hide her malice.

"I assure you sensei there is no need for you to doubt my abilities, I am perfectly capable of keeping up with the class so do not distract yourself for my concern."

"B-But the answer is not correct Ariana-san-

"Actually it is, you've made a mistake here" she said pointing to a specific part on the board "I recognised the sum but you forgot to put in the last part of the equation which was-

She wrote something on the board again and showed him.

"If this was there, then the answer would make sense."

The teacher looked over the sum and then turned to his text book before mumbling "O-Oh, I see you were correct, I apologise."

She smiled back brightly "That's okay sensei, as I said there is no need for you to distract yourself for my sake-you wouldn't want to make the same mistake again."

Her tone was sweet but her words were bitter in a sense that few could detect. She was sure that she wouldn't be hearing a lot of smack talk from this teacher again. She walked back to the teacher leaving him speechless but getting a couple of murmurs from the class here and there however her smile remained.

' **The greatest tool of deception is a smile.'**

* * *

The bell rang indicating it was time for break, Aria began packing up her books; she was just about ready to leave when she was stopped and surrounded by five figures-well more like cornered to her. She looked up at them.

Aria looked at them as they all gave her grins that were meant to be friendly but she felt a discomfort around them, they reminded her of a pack of wolves actually this entire school reminded her of wolves. Each with their own ranking from Alpha to Omega, these were just the kind of people they came across and the kind of students that this school had created.

"Hello Ariana-san, I'm Asano Gakushu" said a boy with short strawberry blonde hair and violet eyes, he was about a foot taller than Aria herself; his eyes reminded her of the principals.

'Asano-He looks just like principal Asano as will no doubt they're related' she thought

A boy with black eyes wearing glasses and with short dark green hair spoke next and introduced himself "I am Araki Teppei"

"Seo Tomoya" said a boy with short flat black hair, dark eyes and a big nose.

"Koyama Natsuhiko" said the next boy wearing glasses with long black shaggy hair giving him a disgruntled look with an overly large smile

"Ren Sakakibara" said a boy with brown hair fashioned into a kariage hairstyle, dark eyes. He winked at Aria to which she ignored.

"Hello" she answered giving a small smile. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"We simply wanted to officially welcome you to the A-class." Explained Gakushu "If there's anything you need please ask any of us and we'd be more than happy to help."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes in annoyance she kept on her grin "Thank you, I'll keep that in mind Asano-san though I doubt I'll need it."

That was all she said before making her way out of the class.

* * *

Aria found a peaceful place to eat her lunch, under the shade of a large Cherryblossom tree, she un-wrapped her convenient store bought jam bread and popped open a soda can. While she was at it, she reminded herself to head over to the convenient store on her way from work. She would have to take a different train to work since it was a lot further than where she lived but she didn't mind the distance as long as she was on time. She knew that students weren't allowed to have part time jobs at this school and if caught it stood for serious consequences. Something she didn't have time to deal with.

She heard some shuffling and looked up to see three girls walking up to her.

"Hey there Ariana-san" a girl with short blonde hair and green eyes greeted her

She looked at them "Hello..."

The girls smiled at her "I'm Tomichika Akane" the blonde introduced herself "And this; is Yamanobe Subaru and Kotonoha Mina."

Subaru was the girl on Akane's right, she has long brown hair with hazel highlights and Mina was on her left side, a girl with long curly red hair and black eyes.

"We're all in A-class as well." Subaru said

Putting on a fake smile she looked at the group "Oh are you? I didn't really look at the class so I didn't notice."

"That's understandable." Said Akane

Mina nodded in agreement with her friend "We heard that you got perfect scores on every test on your transfer exams."

"I did but how did you know that?" she asked in feigned innocence.

"The entire class is probably talking about it by now. It's not every day a transfer student get's accepted into our A-class" explained Subaru emphasising the 'our' in it making her guess that these students didn't take lightly to possible competition and she was obviously seen as competition and a threat even if they didn't want to admit it.

'This school really is stuck on academics isn't it? Even their rumours go about it.'

"Okay, so is the only reason you came to see me?"

"No actually we wanted to invite you to eat lunch with us." Akane said placing a hand on her chest "We're a pretty tight group but there's always room for one more."

Aria stared at them...

* * *

In proper school, friends were an essential to make sure that you have the proper schooling experience and get the most out of your days of youth. Yes, making friends was an essential to a normal life

And- the biggest mistake she's ever made- was all Aria could think about when the three girls and possible new 'friends' dragged her from the tree and into the cafeteria where they started talking and informing her about the important students at the school. She discovered that those five students that approached her earlier on were known as the Big Five at this school as in the top five students in the entire school and the number one student was Gakuho Asano, the student body president and also the principal's only son.

'No wonder I got that chill from him' she thought as the girl continued to splatter on and on about them.

"So they're the leaders of the school?" asked Aria sounding slightly bored as she tried to do her best to maintain the image of holding interest though her mind kept drifting off.

"Yes, they are the pride of Kunugigaoka" explained Mina

"Asano-kun is amazing and he's the number one student." said Akane dreamily blushing and holding her face in her hands. "And studying for exams are always the best."

"Why is that?" Aria asked before taking a sip of her juice.

"The big five always arrange for a class study session where the top five students go around and tutor everyone!"

Mina let out a sigh "Yeah, I love it when Sakakibara-kun tutors me! He's very hands on."

"Of course oh and before I forget Aria there is a condition to being in our group" explained Akane

Aria looked at her "And what would that be?"

"You have to stay in at least the top fifty in ranking" she continued "We can't have someone from the A-class slacking nor can we associate our group with someone like that."

Aria continued to smile but her brow was resisting the urge to twitch in annoyance, she had no clue what it really meant to be at this school but she was learning more about how it truly operated just by listening to these students babble.

"If you got a perfect score for your entrance exams then you should be alright, and with us helping you. You'll be able to fit in just fine and avoid getting sent to the E-class." Subaru said proudly

"E-class, I wanted to actually ask about them." Aria said "I learned that the E-class is where all of the students with bad grades go right?"

The three girls laughed at the mention of E-class, as if what Aria said was the funniest thing they had ever heard but their laughter was dripping with a sense of superiority.

"Yeah that's right but it's barely the half of it" stated Mina "Do you know what else we call the E-class?"

She shook her head; Aria only knew what the schools website had given her.

"Well we've nicknamed it The End Class because it's like your future has literally come to an end the minute you get the transfer into it" explained Mina

"Yeah, the satellite campus out on the mountains is where they are. It's where the lowest of the low are placed to keep away from us real students." said Akane

"The satellite campus is no better than an outhouse, there's no cafeteria, the students aren't allowed on main campus aside from when they are invited or when there is the monthly assembly and we all get to take a crack at them." Subaru said

"You're treated like crap by students and teachers alike and to get out of there you need crazy good grades." Finished Mina "Like in the top fifty which barely happens thank to us!"

Akane nodded "We're like the cleanup crew that keeps the garbage contained."

"It sounds terrible." Aria said

Akane gave her a pat on her shoulder "As long as you keep up your grades, there's nothing to worry about. You'll get the swing of things, trust me if you don't you'll end up in E."

'Yeah, if only they could see it.' Aria thought in distaste 'If only they could see just how strong a hold this school has on them.'

* * *

"See you later Aria" waved Mina as she took off to her train

Aria waved her away with a smile on her face but when she was out of sight the girl's smile dropped and she sighed in relief. Her knew 'friends' had shown her around the school and her first day had gone rather well in her opinion; she was doing a very good job at blending in. Her analysis of the school helped her to understand what type of student was made here. While what she had deducted and said to Principal Asano was correct, she had no idea it had actually run this deep. The structure of the school was much more unique than she initially thought. Now that she was getting a clearer picture of how the school operated, she could adjust herself accordingly.

'However the one thing I will not do no matter how essential it may be for me to blend in, is allow myself to be controlled like the rest of them.' She thought as she rubbed her face, keeping up a cheery impression to hide her maliciousness towards these people was not easy but she had done it enough when she went undercover.

In just a single day she was able to decipher quickly what kind of students these teens were.

Snobbish; arrogant, rude, ruthless, had a high sense of superiority that made them look down on others, acted as if the world revolved around them and that anyone outside of their little world was not worth the time of day.

'No doubt that's caused by the discrimination towards the E-class' Aria thought holding her student card between her lips as she walked through the station looking for her train. When school ended Aria had an hour before work which she needed to take a different train to than the one she took in the morning.

She chose to put some distance between the school and her personal life due to all the rules the school had in place and for the fact that she needed an excuse to avoid getting any visits from other students at the school.

'Still, I wonder what kind of students the E-class is' her curiosity thought as she looked for her train. 'I'm really curios.'

Stepping off of the platform and onto the train as people started to crowd, she began looking for a seat before the entire train was ridiculously packed.

"W-Wait! Hold on!" a voice called as the doors were about to close.

As Aria turned around to see the source of the voice all she saw was a flash of blue before there was a sudden weight on her and all she saw then was the trains ceiling.

Aria stared up at the ceiling bored as she waited for the person who was currently on top of her to get their barring back and get the hell off of her although they were lighter so she assumed it was a girl that bumped into her.

"Ouch" someone said as they pushed themselves up on their hands hovering above Aria's form. She wasn't entirely sure at first but judging from the school boy's uniform which she also recognised was from her new school she deduced that this was in fact a boy that bumped into her. A rather feminine looking boy, he had a petite frame with light blue hair tied in two short pigtails and blue eyes.

She has dealt with a lot of guys before but she has never once seen a boy that looked like him before but somehow she found him rather appealing.

'Is that what you call cute?' she wondered.

Said boy looked at Aria in surprise when he noticed he was right on top of her basically straddling her hips and they were getting stares from the other passengers so he quickly jumped off of her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he said quickly with a bright blush on his face, he moved to pick up everything that fell out of his bag on impact and Aria quickly sat up to do the same.

"It's alright" she said waving her hand with a kind smile on her face "It was an accident besides I should've thought to step out of the way when I heard you screaming."

Aria went to pick up her things as well but amongst them she spotted a student ID and it wasn't hers. As she stood up from the floor with her things gathered she continued to stare at the card noting his name and what class he was in.

'Nagisa Shiota class E'

The blue haired boy picked up his card and stood up bowing slightly to Aria "I'm sorry..."

She simply smiled and held out her hand for him to take. "I'm Tsukimi Aria it's nice to meet you Shiota Nagisa."

Nagisa took the strange girls hand unsure of what to say until finally he settled on "How did you know my name?"

"I saw your card." She responded curtly

"You're also from Kunugigaoka?"

She nodded happily "Yeah, I just transferred here today."

"O-ooh"

"Wow what are the odds." She suddenly said making Nagisa give her a strange look of confusion. "I was just thinking what kind of students the E-class had and here one literally runs into me."

The train started moving as Aria spotted empty seats "That's convenient, let's set down."

"Um..."

"Come on!" Aria said grasping his wrist and pulling him towards the seats. She was stronger than she looked!

"So you just transferred and you're in the A-class Aria-san?" Nagisa asked sounding slightly cautious.

She nodded "That's right."

"Wow, the A-class has the highest number of top students" Nagisa said

"I know and the E-class has the lowest ranking students there right?"

Nagisa seemed struck speechless by her blunt statement and a look of inferiority washed over his face that had Aria continuing.

"Academic wise and behaviour wise according to everyone else, it must be hard being so highly discriminated against." She said crossing her arms over her chest in thought. "Is it hard to deal with?"

" _You're pathetic 62! You're falling behind everyone; you can't come with excuses to me when you asked for this!"_

Nagisa looked at his hands in his lap wondering how this girl could say something like that so casually, she seemed different from the others for those few moments when he bumped into her and she didn't discriminate him when she found out he was in E-class but now he was talking like this to her. If he said anything he wasn't sure what kind of comments she might say to him.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Aria asked

Nagisa wasn't sure how to reply to her.

"I wasn't trying to insult you if that's what you're thinking. I apologise, I've been told countless times I'm rather dense and blunt when fuelling my own curiosity. You don't want to answer me because you're thinking I'm going to insult you at some point in this conversation? I'm simply curious I don't plan on using the information you give me to verbally abuse you."

Nagisa looked at her strangely, what she had just said had barely made sense to him but her questions seemed innocent but with such an ingenuous statement it was as if she wasn't considering how he might feel about it at all.

"I don't need to discriminate and step over people to boost my ego. That's just an excuse to cover up your own weaknesses and they don't realise that they're depending on this discrimination of the E-class to keep going. Eventually that's the only thing they will ever be able to hang onto in their lives and use it to get themselves through their day. Everyone at the main campus has that same weakness and it makes them easy to manipulate **."**

"Waiting a few moments as Nagisa collected his thoughts he decided to speak "You're really straightforward."

"I wouldn't say that, I just call things as I see it."

'And that's not being straightforward?' Nagisa wondered in confusion before he went to looking at his hands in his lap again.

He felt something lift up his head and realised that Aria had placed her hand under her chin and raised his head. "You shouldn't keep your head down like that."

"Why not?" he asked

She smiled "People who cast their eyes down in front of others look weak and an easy target, don't look down unless you're-

" _Enemy is at your feet!"_

Aria stopped herself from continuing that sentence before she snickered "Oops, can't tell you that last part sorry again that was a lapse on my part. Anyway keeping your eyes cast down will only make you a bigger target."

Nagisa nodded doubtfully before Aria spoke again 'Now that I'm satisfied it's time for a change of topic.'

"Say...you are a boy right?"

Blushing and becoming flustered Nagisa spoke quickly "Of course I am! You read my student ID and saw-

She started laughing "I'm only kidding! I know you're a boy!"

"Then why did you ask?"

"Because I thought it would be funny to see your reaction and I think you're cute!"

Nagisa became even more flustered again "W-Who says things like that someone they just met!?"

"An honest person?" she asked still giggling "I've never really seen any kind of illustration that I could define as cute; it's a much more timid expression of visually appealing and I haven't seen anything like that before till I saw you."

'Especially from where I came from...cute didn't exist.'

Sighing softly Nagisa shook his head "You're really open Tsukimi-san."

Calming down she looked at him "Thank you Shiota-san but you can just use my first name."

Nagisa got flustered again and shook his head "I-I-

"Please" Aria insisted "I really like it when people use my first name."

'Since it's been so long...'

"O-Okay Aria-san, then you can call me Nagisa."

She nodded happily "Nagisa-san!"

Whatever awkwardness that had fallen upon them at the beginning was washed away with further conversation, Aria and Nagisa were conversing more freely now. They had gotten to the point of talking about hobbies and when Aria mentioned she liked to read books Nagisa brought up the comic called Sonic Ninja and while she hadn't read the comic itself (Phoenix Academies library didn't exactly range in the comics collection) she showed an interest in the plot line of the story as Nagisa told them to her.

"Could I borrow the comic sometime?" she asked

Nagisa nodded "Sure"

Whatever uncertainties Nagisa held towards this girl had vanished as quickly as they came, he didn't understand how she had done it. She hadn't exactly given him the impression that he would feel comfortable conversing any further with her but here they were talking like old friends.

The train came to a stop sooner than they expected.

"Oh we're already at our stop." Nagisa said in surprise

Aria nodded and stood up grabbing her bag, the two students walked out into the station together before they had to go their separate ways.

"I just realised something." Nagisa said "You said you take the train to school but I never saw you."

"Oh didn't you?" Aria said grinning before running down the road and waving "See you later Nagisa-san, let's meet up again tomorrow!"

* * *

"Welcome" Aria greeted her customer with a bright smile "What would you like to order?"

Yup, she was working at a cafe. Aria had worked there for the past three months as well as a cashier at the convenient store she currently buys all of the groceries at and at a shady nightclub where she got great tips and terrible pick up lines. Of course she wouldn't have been able handle working all three jobs when there was school. So she took the most convenient job.

She wore an adorable red and white waitress uniform that was completely modest but absolutely cute.

She looked at the door as more people started coming in, she was just lucky that no one from school showed up, she was a little paranoid about that because she wasn't sure what kind of reaction she would get if she was caught. Turns out that there were students who enjoyed coming to this cafe, but the distance Aria had placed into consideration to avoid getting caught. It was still a risk no matter how she looked at it though.

'But it's worth it' she thought as she jotted down her customers order and went over to the counter to give it to the cook.

Her time at work went on as usual as she finished help clean up it was soon time to leave.

"So how's it going at your new school?" asked her co-worker Ritsu, she was a pretty collage girl with dark orange hair and blue eyes-but she said her hair was died from black to orange.

"It was only the first day so I can't really answer that question since I'm not entirely sure myself" Aria answered as she slipped out of her uniform.

"Mm, guess that makes sense." Said Ritsu "Did you to the manager for your pay today?"

She shook her head "I'm going to get it right before I leave."

"Are you sure you're going to be handle all of this though?" asked Ritsu sounding worried "You're going to Kunugigaoka junior high, that's an elite school that has top notch students and expect top notch grades."

Aria sighed "I'm aware but I'll be fine."

"It's just that, work ends a little late for a junior high student and to top it off you're also working on the weekends here. Isn't it a little too much?"

'It's not like I have a choice' Aria thought 'There's no way I'd be able to afford my living expenses if I only did weekend jobs'

"There aren't that many people willing to let junior high students work and especially given the rules of the school that doesn't allow you to have a part time job." Aria told her, the reason for the job was something she stated clearly to everyone she refused to share and they respected that.

"You're pretty amazing Aria-chan not a lot of girls would be able to do what you're doing." Ritsu said in admiration.

"I could say the same for you" Aria replied with a small grin "You're a college student that goes to cram classes after work and still comes home to help your mom with your siblings."

Ritsu laughed "Well my brother really helps me out as well, I'll see you tomorrow"

"Bye" Aria waved before heading out of the locker room herself to go see her manager, get her money and then head off to the convenient store.

'I hope I make it in time.'

* * *

"Well if it isn't Aria-chan! Haven't seen you since yesterday" the store clerk joked looking at the young girl who was still in her school uniform despite it nearly being 9 pm.

Aria placed her bag of packaged meals on the counter; the clerk started checking out all of her goods. She had always opted for microwave or pre-packaged meals that you wouldn't have to cook along with a couple of sweets.

"This isn't very healthy Aria-chan" the clerk said as he placed her food in a bag "You're still a growing girl."

Aria giggled "I just don't have the time to make me anything and to be honest I despise cooking."

It wasn't a lie; Phoenix Academy had never opted for home-economics and the idea of making food didn't appeal to her in the slightest. As far as her home-economics classes went at school, she planned on studying up on the basics of cooking and the instructions exactly in the books and hope she didn't burn down the kitchen.

'The one subject I dread, I've never cooked before in my life!'

"Doesn't your mom cook for you?"

Aria's face paled slightly when she thought back.

 _The sound of sirens_

 _The voices of people_

 _Two things being rolled away in a black-_

She shook her head and forced a smile "Mom doesn't live with me; I'm staying on my own."

"Oh that's tough" the clerk said as he handed her change back.

"Thank you" Aria said grabbing her bags and walking out of the store.

"Oh be careful on your way home."

"I always am" she called back.

* * *

"I'm home"

Turning on the light, Aria stepped into her apartment with a calm demeanour. Aria's apartment was only a single room with a kitchen and bathroom, there wasn't much space to move around in but for Aria it was perfect for a single person and the rent wasn't too much either although that probably had to do with the fact that the area itself wasn't too friendly most people were in their homes before eight to avoid run-ins with shady people but Aria only arrived at home at 9:20 right now so she could safely assume that that would more or less be the time she got home.

'I still have homework' she thought as she placed her books on her desk and started her work. Since she was a 'transfer' student as well she needed to catch up on the rest of the work that had been done by far, they weren't too far into the year so it shouldn't be a problem for her.

No more than fifteen minutes later Aria had finished all of her homework for the day.

"I've got some time to kill, round about now we'd be taken out into the woods for night training" she mused to herself as she packed away her schools books for tomorrow and grabbed a book .

"This was an interesting first day" Aria thought reviewing everything that she had learned in her mind, everyone she had met, what she had experienced.

 **There we go, that's the end of that for now.**

 **Review please.**


	3. Chapter 3: The weekend

**Here comes another chapter your way, thanks for the reviews and I hope you enjoy this.**

 **Good assassins -**

 **Have a High anxiety threshold**

 **Have High aggression threshold**

 **Have Low violence threshold**

 **Are At ease with solitary existence**

 **Are At ease with lying**

 **Lack a conscience-feels little remorse.**

 **Are Cunning-The ability to use tools in order to get the job done**

 **Are Charming-knows how to manipulate people**

 **Are Risk taking- can adapt to treacherous conditions**

 **Are Restlessness**

 **Are Untrustworthy-they will do anything and say anything to gain access to their prey's demise.**

 **Have a Chaotic life-have difficulty understanding and respecting boundaries**

 **Have Nothing to lose**

Weekend-the much anticipated time after a long hard week of school filled with lessons and tests in an endless cycle giving way to a short breather before it began again. However for a student of Kunugigaoka junior high was not able to fully enjoy such luxury if they wished to reap the benefits of attending such a prestigious school. Aria knew this from the way her friends talked about their plans over the weekend, their schedule did include some rest and relaxation but they were also chatting about what they were going to study and work on.

Aria let out a small yawn and grabbed her phone to check the time "It's already nine thirty? This is the first time I've over slept."

She had never gotten the opportunity to do something like that and since her days at Phoenix she had been on a strict agenda and even after escaping her body had not yet accepted sleeping in. She was usually up at 6am at the latest.

Slipping out from under the covers of her warm futon Aria made haste in preparing for the day. It may have been a weekend but thanks to school she had several assignments that needed to be done and for that she needed to go to the library.

Going into the kitchen; searching through the cabinets and fridge she realised she also needed to go food shopping.

'Wait the convenient store is open right?' she wondered as she grabbed a packet with melon bread; tore it open and proceeded to eat it.

'Maybe I should get some clothes too?'

She had never been able to pick and choose her own clothes before, on missions everything was prepared. If she was to go under cover then their attire was no different than when they were on the ground at Phoenix Academy, if it was undercover then it all depended on the event or scene that was set.

There wasn't much time for her to be worrying about her clothing choices right now either, with starting a new life; working, going to school, paying the bills and studies fashion was not something she was able to focus on.

Wiping the crumbs from her mouth Aria stood up and headed out.

The nearest library was a bit far from her area but it was still within walking distance for her at least. She didn't want to be to near any crowded areas. It was more preferential than strategic.

'Okay I'm off'

Taking one last glance at her home before closing the door.

* * *

The public library was quite empty as expected, when people now had their devices and the internet the library was of little use to them. Aria herself was saving to get WIFI installed in her apartment but she still had about another two months before that was happening aside from that she wanted to get more than just research material. Reading was her passion that she always indulged in no matter the circumstances.

The librarian gave her a friendly wave to which she returned with a wave of her own and a smile, she was a very familiar face at the library for the past few months.

"How have you been Aria?" the librarian asked; her tone friendly.

"I've been doing well." she answered before drawing a piece of paper and handing it to her "Could you run through this and tell me where I can find this material?"  
The librarian took the paper unfolding it and reading through "Of course Aria; you're one of my favourite visitors after all. Never met a girl who spent this much time in the library before other than me."

A few minutes later Aria was handed back a full list of everything she needed and where she needed to find it. "Here you go. Oh and I also added some books that might catch your interest."

"Thank you Sekai." Aria said bowing before leaving the counter.

Several minutes the dark haired girl had gathered nearly all of her research material and was walking down the next aisle for the last part of her assignment.

'There it is.' She thought as her eyes caught sight of the book, with an attentive hand she reached forward but another rather deity hand also reached out for it, Aria's hand touching the spine of the book while the strangers placed over but a quick flicker to the right made her realise this was no stranger. Not a stranger she hasn't met before anyway.

With a bright smile she spoke "Nagisa! What a surprise."

The azure haired boy looked at Aria with a staggering smile "A-Aria? Is that you?"

She nodded "Of course it's me don't you recognise me?"

Nagisa looked at the girl, clad in unusual clothing. She wore a navy blue shirt that was a few sizes too large with many pocket; cream coloured cargo pants that were a lot like the grey ones he wore for school and her hair was tucked into a red cap. If he hadn't looked into her eyes he wouldn't have realised it was her, as she was right now she could easily be mistaken for a boy-well perhaps if her upper body was much more...less.

"Honestly..." Nagisa trailed; if he hadn't seen her silver eyes then he wouldn't thought she was a stranger.

'But to think this is how she dresses outside of school.'

There was not a single stitch of femininity in her entire dress form. It was as if she had raided a man's closet going through the clothes that just barely fit her.

Aria stifled a laugh at the poor boys expression, unsure of what to say in concern for her feelings. After all it was considered to be a very sensitive and especially dangerous topic when dealing with a women's wardrobe. She wasn't even surprised that Nagisa didn't recognise her, had she worn sunglasses he would still be guessing.

"What are you doing here?" she asked toppling her first question for his sake.

Nagisa wasn't complaining though and was quick to answer that one "I came here to get some research material for an assignment."

"Oh so am I." she gestured to the books she held with her arm "I'm assuming it's the same one since we both need the same book."

Nagisa nodded and looked at the book "So what'll we do?"

Aria looked to be pondering something but her usual grin Nagisa was use to seeing every day after school. It had become part of his everyday for the past two weeks; he and Aria rode the same train then and they talked the entire ride about whatever could grasp one another's attention. This had become a routine so much that they had an unofficial waiting place near the train so that they could board it together and be seated next to one another.

"Don't worry Nagisa..." Aria told him "I have an idea."

* * *

"Oh so that was the answer to 2.3 huh?" Nagisa said; his pen moving quickly.

"Nagisa slow down." Aria said with a watchful gaze "You're going to make a hole in your page."

Nagisa looked up giving Aria a small grin "Mm, sorry it's just I was a little worried about finishing all these assignments since they were all so hard oh well that Kunugigaoka for you huh? Although you didn't seem to have any problem at all; Aria"

Aria shrugged "I've been given these recent assignments and the ones I have missed before I transferred. It's only the first term so it's not that much, I suppose my transfer time was odd but it couldn't be helped. I finished them all within my first week already and have caught up to my class. I think people find things hard or challenging because it is something they aren't familiar with or use to. Things that take you for a loop as some say; it can be hard to adapt but eventually everyone does at their own pace."

"Adapt?"

Aria nodded, closing her books. She and Nagisa had spent four hours in the library together doing nothing but their homework.

"Everything adapts in order to survive no matter how long it takes; even when you don't realise it." She told him "Well we finished our assignments so neither of us will be needed these."

Aria gathered up half of the books in her arms while Nagisa grabbed the other half; they placed the books back on their designated gaps on the shelves and returned to their table to take the rest of their things so that they could leave.

"See told you I had a simple solution." Aria beamed slinging her bag over her shoulder

"Yeah because it was real simple to just do a week long assignments in four hours." Nagisa sighed; he was actually tired from starring at nothing but black and white for hours.

Aria looked at him and spoke in a sincere sounding voice "Sorry I didn't realise how tired this must have made you and how much time it took up from your Saturday. How about I make it up to you?"

Nagisa raised both of his hands up "You don't have to-

Nagisa was cut short by himself when his stomach gave a well-known growl; with his face flushed all words left his mouth.

Aria giggled in response "There's a cafe nearby, why don't we go get some lunch; my treat of course."

"I can't let you-

In an instant she was in front of Nagisa, with such close proximity that their noses were touching, Aria's hands grasping Nagisa's.

"Please Nagisa; I would really like to treat my friend to lunch."

Nagisa didn't know why he gasped from surprise after Aria called him her friend; they had been behaving in a way that friends would for the last few weeks but it wasn't until she said that was he reminded of the big gap that the school had placed between them, a gap that they weren't supposed to breach. He was in E-class and she was in the A-class; those two classes were meant to be world apart. Yet, her voice, her expression, her words reached him like there was no difference between them. They all seemed too genuine to have any vicious motive behind it.

"Please Nagisa." Aria begged; no matter how dragged out her words were then it didn't sound like whining or begging, her voice carried its message across without any confusions.

'I want to have lunch with you.'

"Okay..."

* * *

"Nagisa you should eat more." Aria stated after swallowing the bite of her sandwich.

Nagisa scratched his cheek letting out a humourless laugh "It doesn't really matter how much I eat I'm not-

"I meant you should eat more now; you hardly touched your food and we got it twenty minutes ago, not to mention in that time I've been able to order a second dish." Aria pointed out before downing another slice of the tuna sandwich. "I could tell by looking at you that you wouldn't pick up weight that easily; I'm not suggesting you should either. "

"T-Thanks..."

Aria narrowed her eyes looking straight at him, sending a chill down his spine "Nagisa; you don't have to be so timid around me. You've already showed me your colours."

"It's just that this setting is different." He said in a soft voice "We've never hanged out like this before."

Aria cocked and eyebrow at him "Did you think we were just travel buddies or something? I'm happy to be with you anywhere Nagisa at the train station, in the library or at a cafe. You are my friend after all."

Nagisa didn't know why but when Aria used the word 'friend' she sounded so certain of what she was saying, it was as if she could tell it to a complete stranger and make them believe that she was telling the truth.

And he couldn't find it in himself to do anything to waiver that belief in the slightest, even if it meant leaving some questions unanswered.

"Yeah; we're friends." Nagisa said smiling

Aria found herself very fascinated by Nagisa his personality and body both seemed to work well in sync together, both so timid and frail yet there was something behind his eyes that Aria was yet to see; she could feel it the moment their hands touched, something beneath the surface her eyes were yet to catch. And her eyes were sharp.

No one could read hers but she could read everyone else's. A skill she had perfected and that made it easy for her to decipher a person's true nature and intentions. She had seen it so many times though that she remained unaffected by anything she discovered about a person and could continue to play her role required.

It was just a plane instinct but she had always been one to follow it. She felt like she had not met someone like him before and therefore her curiosity became the overpowering factor. Nagisa had also provided Aria with an anchor, something to hold hers down from loosing herself to the system created by Gakushu Asano for his school. For it was a powerful one. A force that no one has opposed before and no one would. It was a bit too rudimentary in Aria's opinion. The weak are left behind while the strong are cultivated.

'No one has ever used it to this extent though.' Aria thought her expression dawning on a frown, she looked at Nagisa, according to the system he was a weak link and had been discarded into the E-class like the rest of the minority. Yet just by looking at the way he had worked earlier on she couldn't help but think that there was something that was keeping him balanced on the fine of failure and success while most believe that the E-class marks the end of success.

'Perhaps I'm over analysing' she thought 'After all what would border someone like that?'

"Are you finished now Nagisa?" she asked

He nodded and looked at her plate; his mouth hung open in surprise "Aria you finished your second order?"

Giving a sheepish grin she nodded "Of course; I need to keep my strength up."

"I can't help but wonder where all of it goes..."

Aria pointed carelessly to her torso "Most people say it goes straight to my-

"Never mind!" Nagisa interjected blushing.

"Well where should we go next?" Aria asked, resetting a calm atmosphere that Nagisa felt comfortable in. "I feel like some sun and ice cream."

Smiling Nagisa nodded.

From a distance the two remained completely oblivious to the eyes following them from their view within the stores window.

"Well what do you know"

* * *

"Smile!"

Aria and Nagisa moved in closer grinning in front of them, making peace signs, pulling faces, striking poses; a few minutes later the two came out of the photo booth that had caught Arai's eye. Where she quickly dragged Nagisa in to take a couple dozen photos.

"These turned out great." Aria said handing Nagisa a few of the photo's but the boy just seemed to deflate. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just you dragged me in there so suddenly..."

"Sorry, I've never taken pictures in a photo booth before and I was really excited!"

"Oh..." Nagisa whispered fiddling with the end of his shirt "So what do you want to do now?"

* * *

"Here you go strawberry right?" Aria asked as she held out the cone for the boy to take.

"Thanks. Where are we going now?"

Aria shrugged "Let's just keep walking and see where we end up?"

Nagisa let out a light hearted laugh "Aria, you're really strange."

"You only say that because you haven't met someone like me before." Are replied grasping Nagisa's arm and pulling him along with her in a cheerful stroll.

Eventually the two found a park bench to rest on after a few minutes of wondering aimlessly around town; window shopping, eating ice cream; taking pictures.

"That was fun." Nagisa said leaning back on the park bench

Aria gave him a cheerful expression starring over at him "Really; it wasn't a bother?"

Nagisa shook his head "No; I can't remember the last time I hung out with anyone outside of school."

"Yeah me neither." Aria half lied, she wouldn't remember the last time she hung out with anyone outside of school because she had never left it before.

She looked ahead and gasped pointing to the sky "Look at that."

"Wow." Nagisa sighed softly

The sky was orange now with a majestic tint of red that made it look like someone had set it on fire, Aria had never seen a sunset like that before. The two sat in perfect silence starring out at the horizon before it was.

"Thanks for coming with me to do my grocery shopping." Aria said gesturing to the bag at her feet.

"Sure but you really bought a lot of pre-made food." Nagisa said

Aria rubbed the back of her neck "I've never cooked before; I don't even know how to turn on a stove."

It was the truth; Aria had not a single memory of being in a kitchen before where she actually had to do anything and with the way her life has been going by far it's been impossible to find the time to attempt to cook and she was confident she would end up burning something, she was always starting fires on purpose, it couldn't be hard to start one accidently.

It was a risk she'd rather not take.

Someone walking by the two stopped right in front of the bench they were seated at, the man was carrying a basket of roses and picked up one holding it in front of Aria.

"A rose for your girlfriend?"

Aria simply stared at him a moment while Nagisa appeared completely struck in disbelief and embarrassment when it finally dawned on him that he was the 'girlfriend' the man was referring to.

Instead of replying Aria offered a smile and took the rose before handing the man a few yen and placed the rose in Nagisa's hair.

"He's not my girlfriend but the rose doesn't look bad." She said leaving the man shocked before he finally realised his mistake.

"I am sor-

Aria held up her hand "I know; I can't say I didn't expect this. Your gesture was good so the apology isn't necessary thank you."

The man gave a brief nod before going on his way leaving Aria with a tight smile and Nagisa with a disgruntled expression.

"I-I'm not even dressed like a girl." Nagisa said gloomily; his shoulders slumped in depression.

Aria giggled plucking the rose from his head "The rose does look good though."

"That's not helping!" Nagisa whined "You're the one who's a girl; why couldn't he tell?"

Aria let out a small laugh leaning in closer to him; giving a swift tug Aria had untied Nagisa's hair and let it fall, she then removed her cap "You're too cute Nagisa"

"I don't get it." he muttered slightly surprised at her bold actions.

"Stereotypes state that cute is only for girls signifying things that are deity and small. That's why I didn't give that man a hard time about mistaking our genders. If that man had bothered to look closer he may have noticed but because you're cute and I'm not his mind automatically assumed."

Nagisa blushed "Y-You're cute Aria..."

Aria seemed taken aback blinking before she grasped the end of Nagisa's hair "I always wondered if our hair was the same length but you always kept it in pigtails."

Nagisa gave a small smile but it wasn't one that contained any real meaning except to hide something "I want to cut it but I can't..."

She figured it out almost instantly.

Aria saw the look in the boy's eyes, it was one that held something painful yet she couldn't bring herself to ask the straightforward question that would give her the answer. He probably wouldn't tell her if she asked, after all she wouldn't.

'Who doesn't want you to cut your hair Nagisa? Who doesn't want you to be you? Who wants you to live up to their ideals?'

"Do you think you'll be seen as more of a boy if you do that?" Aria asked instead, trying to satisfy at least a ration of her curiosity.

Nagisa gasped "W-Well isn't that why-

"I said that man mistook you for a girl because you're cute not because of the length of your hair. In my opinion you wouldn't be any different even if you did cut your hair."

At her statement Nagisa's chest seemed to tighten painfully; what exactly could she mean by that? Cute? Deity? Small? Was she saying he was going to look weak for the rest of his life? A solemn expression passed over Nagisa's face and an aura Aria had picked up the first time she met Nagisa appeared again.

"It wouldn't change anything huh?"

Aria sighed "I'm saying that for me it wouldn't make any difference; long hair or short hair; whether you're seen as a boy or a girl. It's more important who you are rather than what sex you are. You shouldn't try to change yourself to fit others perspectives. I don't care if I'm mistaken for a boy when people see me. I'm still me. The same goes for Nagisa; I like Nagisa for being Nagisa no other reason."

"L-L-L-Like me really?" stuttered Nagisa sliding back on the bench.

Smiling again Aria tied up Nagisa's hair again "I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable again Nagisa but I like you just the way you are, I really do I promise."

Nagisa's thoughts were becoming jumbled, for a girl that was always so straightforward and blunt she could certainly confuse a person ironically.

"So let's agree." Aria said holding up her pinkie still retaining her smile "At the end of the day we'll decide who we are not anyone else."

Nagisa seemed hesitant to make such a promise after all...

"It doesn't have to be a promise that takes effect right away." Arai assured "We'll work on it slowly."

Seeming reassured at that, he interlocked his pinkie with hers. Somehow Nagisa felt like he had just made a promise to a complete stranger and at the same time someone he had known his entire life.

Aria was an enigma to Nagisa just as much as he was one to her yet she was able to read him so clearly it was as if she could see straight through him while she knew nothing about him.

She hadn't revealed anything about her past to Nagisa in those shorts days he had known her yet it was as if he could bare his soul to her. He felt both exposed and secure in her presence. It was conflicting yet it was something he had become use to.

"Hey Nagisa, I enjoyed today can we do this again?"

'It's like she has the talent to draw you in.'

"Sure."

 **That's all for now folks.**

 **Don't forget to leave a review**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again everyone; I hope I didn't keep you guys waiting for too long it's been exams and now it's finally over. To celebrate mock exams ending AND the posting of my new story of Avatar and Naruto I've updated a couple stories.**

 **So read and enjoy!**

* * *

Deep within the heart of Phoenix Academy stood a door that many dreaded to walk through because within these walls to walk through that door meant your life span was about to shorten, it wasn't everyday that someone had to go in there but ever since three months ago, people have been coming and going from that room nearly constantly.

"Is there still no trace of number 62 anywhere?" a dark voice asked

"N-no sir we haven't found any traces or leads on her yet, it doesn't even appear that she's in the country anymore."

A fist banged on the table causing all of its contents to rattle. "It's been three months since 62 went missing! Do you even understand the seriousness of this situation?"

The man backed away slightly in fear "I-I know sir, but perhaps we should consider the possibility that 62 is actually dead-

"Unless I get so much as a piece of her delivered in a bag she is not dead!"

"But sir I don't understand why all this trouble on one-

"Because, if she is not found and returned what example does that set for the rest of the students?! Rumours have already started spreading of her escape, it will ignite a flame within the others that there is something out there in the world for them other than assassination and that it's possible to get away from this place. We need to ensure that we suffocate that flame before it becomes too large to control."

"I-I s-see sir, I apo-

"Never mind" the voice said turning deadly calm "Just make sure that you do as instructed and find her."

"Understood" the man said before stepping out of the office; he felt as though he pants was wet.

"No matter where you go 62, you cannot escape." Narrowed eyes stared at the file on his desk, paper spread carelessly across; there was the picture of a silver eyed, dark haired; paled skinned girl; her face was blank holding nothing devoid of all traces of emotion.

"Always were the perfect trickster; I wonder how many you will's you have killed?"

* * *

"This is not my brightest idea but I cannot be late again!" Aria said as she leapt from roof to roof; the air was particularly chilly this morning but she paid it no heed as she took another launch forward onto the next building, it was a rush every time, the excitement that she had pent up over the months with no training and no missions. Her body was craving that adrenaline release and this was a good excuse to exercise it.

She was using Parkour to get to the train station, she was confident she would be able to arrive faster this way and she was sure to watch where she was landing as well whenever she hit the ground although a couple of times she ended up having to duck to avoid a car and then it was right back onto a roof which was ironically where she felt safer.

There were a couple of stares but she was moving fast enough so that most people barely caught a glimpse of her form.

"This the second time this week though" Aria muttered to herself sighing softly as she made another safe landing "Perhaps I shouldn't have stayed up last night reading. I'm honestly taking advantage to all this freedom."

It's been almost a month since Aria had started attending Kunugigaoka junior high and everything was what she would consider normal, her routine was a little off but that was to be expected when you were a student. You never knew what could happen.

Every morning she walked to the station and took a train to school. At school she dealt with her lessons and 'friends', after school it was work. The train to her work gave her a few minutes to just sit and chat with the only genuine student she believed she has met by far. Nagisa had been one of the better points in her new life and while she was not entirely sure how to handle a situation like this; she felt that she was doing alright.

Aria came to her final jump as she landed safely in the side ally of a building the station was literally on the other opposite side of the road.

"Phew" she breathed out in relief wiping her forehead of the small beads of sweat. "Just in time..."

* * *

"Good morning Aria-san." Gakushu said giving her a friendly wave.

She returned his greet with a small smile "Good morning Asano-san"

"Barely made it before the bell again I see."

Aria bowed her head "Overslept again, I'll try to do better tomorrow."

Gakushu smiled "As long as you're not written up its fine. Though you may want to splash some water on your face; you look a tad flushed from all that running and jumping."

Those last two words caught her attention "How would you-

"Are you ready for the pop quiz in Japanese today?" he asked her curtly cutting off her question.

She raised an eyebrow at him "How could you possibly know there's a pop quiz?"

He smiled "Observe the teachers well enough and you pick up their patterns even if they don't know they have it."

"I'll be sure to remember theat." She nodded as she walked over to her desk.

* * *

Gakushu was right about the pop quiz that day but Aria didn't say anything to him about it, in fact she hardly spoke to any of the students unless it was Subaru, Mina and Akane who she sat with everyday during lunch. Other than their high and mighty attitudes when talking about the E-class and over obsessive behaviour with the Big Five; she had grown accustomed to interacting with them taking the good with the bad.

"Ah, you got another high score!?" Subaru asked

"And in math no less, that's like the worst subject!" groaned Mina

"How much?" asked Akane

"98" Aria answered nonchalantly

The four girls were currently outside sitting in the schools beautiful and gardens that hosted a variety of trees and flora that gave it a well endowed class. Aria enjoyed being here because of all the flowers.

Aria looked at the girls "Why so surprised after all isn't it the A-class's philosophy to strive to be the best of the best?"

Akane smiled with a firm nod "That's right; we're the best of the best. Of course you would understand that right Aria; that's why you get those scores."

She shrugged; it was easy when you actually knew the work and it was actually a lot easier than the transfer test she had to take but the girls had told her that the tests were nothing compared to exams. Everything she did took studying on her part understanding and memorising. Now that she was actually in school it required more of her time dedicated to her studies. That's just how tough it was.

It was starting to show that basics were not going to be enough anymore. She had to know more of the theory and all of the technical points in her topics.

"You might just hit it right up there with Asano-kun of course no one can beat him." Akane said in a dream like state.

"I don't particularly enjoy math but I do understand it well." she explained

"Is there anything you can't do?" asked Mina as she took a bite of her lunch again.

"Cook" Aria stated bluntly taking a bite out of her burger-store bought of course. She had tried cooking last night to make her own burger but ended up with a visit from the land lady asking if she had attempted to light fireworks inside her place.

"Seriously, but that's like a women's number one required skill! How on earth are you going to get a husband?"

Aria smiled and shrugged "I never really thought about it."

'Because I didn't have the privilege to' she thought through her tight lipped smile.

 _The classroom was silent as usual as everyone sat in their desks clad in tight black shirts and pants. They were all given a maximum five minutes to solve the fifteen minute equation on the screen. Those who couldn't complete it would have to do drills later tonight in the dark after night training until they've completed it ten times._

" _This will teach you to work well under pressure, if you cannot keep a clear mind and solve a situation within the given time limit then you have no hope. You won't always have the luxury of having time on your side and unless you learn to defeat it you are without chance"_

* * *

A whistle blew as the girls stood in their gym clothes which were blue shorts and top with black stockings under and sneakers. Boys and girls were separated on the field and each had their own teachers. The boys had already started playing soccer while the girls waited to hear their next instruction-and also watch the boys while they were at it.

"Alright girls" the teacher called "Line up"

The girls followed their teacher's instruction and stood at the begging of the track side by side.

"Now this isn't a race but you do need to keep up. You need to try to complete the highest level which is why there isn't that much of a distance to run, understand?"

"Yes" the girls answered together.

"Alright then, on my whistle go."

The whistle blew and they were off.

There wasn't much happening for the first few laps except constant running up and down like it was nothing; then a few girls started to drop out from all the laps. Aria was still going strong though. Her endurance was a cut above the rest with her training as an advantage but it wasn't always like this...

" _Come on, if you can't evade attacks while running far distances there is no way you're going to make it past your first assignment!"_

" _Come on 62 you're lagging behind!"_

 _Aria panted heavily as she ran through the field, mud splattering around her from the icy rain that pierced her skin as she looked back at all of the girls in front of her. Her lungs burned and her side ached, her body wasn't use to being to being pushed like this. To top it off the rain wasn't helping either. They had to do a bleep test with a twist; every time they reached the end of the track they had to duck and doge and deflect an attack._

 _Slipping in a puddle she landed face fist into the mud hearing snickers behind her when the other agents ran passed her._

" _If you cannot complete until level 20 then there will be a penalty to pay!"_

 _She heard snickering as several other figures ran passed her to the other side "Looks like you're not making it to supper again tonight huh 62?"_

" _She always acts like she's better than everyone but she's the biggest joke here!"_

" _This'll be her forth penalty in two weeks"_

" _I can't believe they put her into this advanced sector"_

" _It's because she wants to-_

 _Aria blocked them out as she lied in the mud helplessly, what would you expect from a twelve year old amongst teenagers-near adults? She may as well give up now; she would just have to face a penalty again._

" _62 get up!"_

 _She forced herself to stand up but her knees felt like they were about to buckle again._

" _If you continue you like this I'm taking you out of the accelerated division"_

 _Her eyes shot open 'NO, I can't leave now. Not after all this.'_

 _She forced her legs to start moving once again as she began to complete the laps._

"Aria; watch out!"

The girl stopped in her tracks and turned around to see something white and black coming at her head at a fast speed.

It was pure reflex after.

Acting before she could think, Aria gave a powerful jump; her head falling back but her eyes remaining sharp as the ball came towards her. She twisted her body in mid air until she felt her foot come into contact with something she knew was the ball and kicked it back. It was not only seconds later when her thoughts cleared she realised her mistake of showing off her skill and that small realisation caused her focus to drift and her landing to be a little less than graceful when her foot hit the ground harder than it should've. She felt a shooting pin-like pain through her foot and winced. Luckily it wasn't sprained or broken but she was certain she would've been close to one.

Panting slightly she got up and looked around seeing the boys starring at her in shock, that was when she realised that one of the boy must've sent a soccer ball flying her way. Looking around she saw that she was one of the few girls left on the track as well.

A boy came running up to her and bowed his head "I'm sorry are you alright?"

"So I'm guessing you were the one who kicked the ball?"Aria asked smiling slightly; she propped up her sore foot using her good one to carry her weight.

He nodded again "I'm sorry"

"That's alright; as long as it was an accident I don't mind." Aria said waving him off when the two coaches came up to her and then she was also surrounded by students.

"Are you alright?" asked the teacher

She nodded again "I'm fine, nothing is broken."

"Are you sure?" the coach asked with a worried expression.

Aria smiled and nodded "Yes; my impact wasn't that hard."

Gakushu pointed to her foot "Are you certain?"

'How did he notice that so fast?' Aria wondered as she continued to smile

"I just landed too hard on it, I should be-

"I'll take her to the nurse." offered Gakushu

"I really don't need-

"Let's go" Gakushu was beside her wrapping his arm around her waist and her arm over his shoulder as he helped her walk.

She heard a couple of cries and squeals from the girls saying how 'lucky' she was.

She couldn't help but disagree with them.

* * *

"That was really something Aria-san" Gakushu said after a few moments of silence.

"What was?"

"Well for starters, you were still running along with one of the best runners from the track team."

Aria gasped softly, she was so engrossed in her own memories she hadn't even realised it. All she saw was that muddy field, felt the rain beating down on her body, her heart pumping, her eyes glaring ahead...

"Also the way you counter-kicked that ball. Those were some advance moves. Did you do gymnastics by any chance?" he asked

Though his question seemed genuine, Aria felt like it was more of an interrogation attempt. To discover something greater than what was on the surface and with her it wasn't possible to rule that out but it wasn't something Aria could afford. Any suspicions would bring about more complications-ones that if she couldn't explain would bring her world crashing down.

"At my old school" She answered him with honest discretion. Usually her answers were followed with more detail to throw people off their initial intentions behind their words until eventually they forgot all about it but with Gakushu, it was different.

He never strayed from his objectives.

"That's interesting, why don't you join gymnastics here?" he asked

Aria was actually hesitant to answer a question-something that rarely happened "I...I don't have the time."

He smiled at her but Aria saw it as a shallow smile. Gakushu had a way of charming everyone he meets the first time; he was a person that could get anyone under his thumb if he desired and control them. He gave inspirational speeches to the A-class about how they were the chosen ones at Kunugigaoka. Even though he sugar coated it-somewhat; Aria was also aware that he just like the majority at the main campus was discriminatory of the E-class. Though unlike the others Gakushu didn't use that to thrive on and succeed; he could rely on his own abilities to succeed and not someone else's misfortunes.

That of course may have come with the package of being the principals son and Gakuho did not strike Aria as the kind of man who would foster well as the 'fatherly' type so to speak. He appeared as the kind who would appear as nothing but an obstacle in his son's way. That could also be what made Gakushu thrive.

He was the only one Aria hesitated to share in any observations; for if she did she was almost positive that he would unveil some observations about her that were both true; hidden and faltered.

* * *

"Do you feel any pain?" asked the nurse gently touching her ankle.

Aria shook her head in response "It's just my foot not my ankle."

"I just want to make sure you didn't sprain it" the nurse scolded slightly.

"It's not; I simply landed too hard on impact. It'll feel better in less than half a day."

The nurse bandaged up her foot which was unnecessary in her opinion she had wanted to voice it but the nurse had told her to stop correcting her and speaking of unnecessary...she glanced up at Gakushu who was sitting in one of the chairs in the office.

"Asano-san, you can go back. Class already started." Aria said

He shook his head "I'll escort you back to class, missing a few minutes of a lesson won't make a difference for me."

His voice held a sense of superiority and arrogance that he wanted people to notice but couldn't object to and Aria had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to convince him to leave.

After the nurse was done wrapping up her ankle-which wasn't even the painful point but she didn't need her foot wrapped up either.

"Okay let's go back" she said taking a deliberate step on her foot to spite the nurse and started walking out.

As they made their way through the empty hallways Gakushu took that moment to fill in the pleasant silence Aria was finding comfort in.

"You're sure you should be walking on your foot like that?" he asked looking down at her leg.

Aria spoke with a clipped tone "I am."

Gakushu raised an eyebrow and spoke in the exact tone he used when addressing other students; polite yet gripping with a sense of authority "Aria-san, I feel as though you do not appreciate my presence why is that?"

It wasn't a lie. Gakushu set her senses on high alert; someone who could counter her own demeanour did not bring much comfort to her.

He was cryptic while she was blunt.

Yet they would both always uncover the truth.

She could tell that he was trying to dig for something deeper, to peel at her layers until he discovered the entire truth. He was the kind of person who did not appreciate secrets. He knew everything that went on in the school and refused to be denied any information.

"You are wasting your time and missing class to assist me; something that isn't needed thus jeopardizing yourself for no reason." She explained giving him a small smile to top it off "And that's something that would make me feel extremely guilty."

Asano laughed, it was a haughty laugh but taunting to Aria "You may say that Aria-san but I know you wouldn't feel guilty."

Aria narrowed her eyes slightly wondering what he was getting on.

"You are a remarkably intelligent and I'm certain that you wouldn't feel guilty over such a trivial thing." he told her

"What exactly are you implying?" she asked

"You merely make me feel sometimes as if you're an individual who will place themselves firsthand."

'Hence, I can't feel guilt' she thought realising the meaning behind his words.

Aria swallowed down her surprise and placed her smile "I could say the same for you Gakushu."

* * *

"So did Asano-kun say anything to you?"

"What happened?"

"Did he have to carry you to the nurse's office?"

Aria raised her hand to stop them from continuing their assault of questions "No he didn't say anything, nothing happened and no he didn't have to carry me."

Akane, Subaru and Mina had started hounding her for answers ever since she arrived back in class. However at that time she no longer felt like speaking details and observations.

"He is so wonderful" Akane said dreamily

Arai felt like rolling her eyes at that moment; it was clear that she would have to keep a greater distance from Asano. Not only did she become more vulnerable around but there were also those that surrounded him she would have to look out for. Making unnecessary enemies was a typical school occurrence but it wasn't a mandatory one.

* * *

When Aria got to the train station she immediately went on the lookout for Nagisa. After today she really needed to see a friendly face-one without hidden intentions behind them including her own. She looked around, Nagisa was rather small but his blue hair wasn't exactly hard to spot in a crowd.

"Hey Aria" Nagisa called from behind her poking her back making her gasp and spin around with wide eyes.

"What's wrong?" Nagisa asked curiously

'I didn't even sense him.' Aria thought before replacing her shock with a smile.

"You're late again." Aria said in a scolding tone though there was a hint of playfulness in it.

"Sorry, it's a long walk down the mountain you know."

The train ride was as usual a pleasant one for the two students as they sat together and chatted about anything they could think of to hold one another's attention close.

"How'd you find the ending?" asked Nagisa

"I enjoyed it; the plot really sucked me in." Aria said handing Nagisa his book back. "I couldn't put it down."

Nagisa smiled "There's a movie to, a friend of mine really likes the director of it."

"I'd like to watch that." Aria said looking at her phone, her fingers tapping on the buttons "It's already out so we can rent it. Did you watch it already?"

"Yeah, it was great." Nagisa said pointing to the phone "I know where we can rent it too."

"Then how about we get together this weekend and watch it? I don't have a TV at my place though...

Nagisa seemed to hesitate with his next words "We could watch it at my place...I'll have to check with my mom first."

'So he's parents are separated.' Aria thought when he only said 'mom' and not his parents. '

"Just send me a message then." Aria said but then she realised something "I don't have your number!"

"Oh right." Nagisa said taking out his phone "Here."

They exchanged numbers before returning back to their usual friendly conversation.

"By the way, I noticed that you're not wearing your stockings and that you're foots bandaged."

Aria laughed softly "That's a funny story actually, see during PE today...

After explaining what happened (Give or take a few details that were unimportant)

"Are you sure you're alright though?"

"Yes, honestly it was just because I was distracted." She explained flicking her wrist "I'm starting to think it would've been better to let that ball hit me in the head now."

Nagisa couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

* * *

"And here you go." Aria said placing the money on the counter to which the cashier took it without even counting it.

"Why is it you never check the amount I give you?" she asked "I could be giving you the wrong amount."

"You always give me exact payment." he replied as he handed her the bag of groceries. "Again you need to get someone to cook you a proper meal."

"I've heard that before." She replied taking the items

"Be careful."

"Always am." She laughed grabbing her bags as the cashier looked behind him.

"Oh hey big teach."

Turning around Aria saw a rather large 'man' with a very round face, he wore a black academic dress and cap.

'He has to be about three metres.' She thought starring at him slightly 'And did the clerk just say teacher?'

"Ah yes I've finally gotten paid." He said rubbing the back of his head with his extremely long arm

"Kunugigaoka pays big bucks I bet!" the clerk exclaimed

Aria's eyes narrowed 'Did he just say this person teachers at my school?'

She may not have a photographic memory but her mind was sharp enough to notice a teacher who stood out like that. Curiosity was a disease that Aria was incapable of curing as she walked back over to the teacher.

The so called teacher turned around to look at Aria but the only thing she saw on his 'face' was a smile.

"Excuse me but did you say that you taught at Kunugigaoka?" Aria asked "I overheard."

The large man nodded "Yes; I do. I'm teaching E-class."

"Ah; you know Nagisa?" he asked; another thing Aria was noticing about this teacher was that he didn't move his mouth as much when he talked; it was as if he had a permanent smile on his face.

The dark haired girl nodded her head starring up at the teacher "We're friends."

"Mmm; could you by any chance be Aria-chan?"

She nodded smiling "Has Nagisa been mentioning me?"

The mysterious large teacher nodded "He has; you're the A-class transfer student unlike the rest correct? I have to admit I'm surprised to hear that there is someone from the advanced class not treating an E-class student like-

"Like they're a disease?" Aria finished for him still with a bright smile "That's because I do not need to use others shortcomings as my crutches to get where I need to be."

"Spoken well I can see why Nagisa has taken such a liking to you."

Aria giggled "Well that's good because I really like him as well."

* * *

"Ah that shower felt good." Aria sighed pulling the towel over her head to dry her hair; it wasn't long then that her phone started ringing.

"Who's calling at this time of night?" Aria wondered grabbing her phone on the side of the desk. She looked at the caller ID and smiled "Hey Nagisa."

"He-Hey Aria." Was his timid reply "Sorry I'm calling so late...I just wanted to tell you that we can't watch the movie at my place..."

Aria sighed "That's too bad."

"Yeah sorry."

"Well guess we'll just have to watch the movie at my place." She said offhandedly

"W-What? But I thought you said you didn't have a TV-

"It'll be fine." She reassured him "We'll talk more about the details when we see each other okay?"

"S-Sure."

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow." Aria told him

"Yeah bye."

"Bye"

 **There we go everyone. I'm pretty sure you can guess who that teacher was that Aria ran into; don't worry if you're a bit confused all will be revealed eventually.**

 **Don't forget to review!**


	5. Chapter 5:Tamato

**Happy new year my wonderful readers and welcome to the first chapter of Assassins amongst assassins in the year 2017. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

There was an ecstatic feeling in the air of Cafe La' Dream; customers were flocking in and out while the staff rushed through the place serving their customers- to take orders, deliver orders, bring checks, give refills and inform them on the specials. The atmosphere was so cheery, so jovial, so high spirited so...chaotic.  
"I NEED ANOTHER MOCHA CAKE OVER HERE."

"Coming!"

"Excuse me we're waiting for our bill."

"Here you go!"

"We'd like a refill please."

"Right away!"

"Could you give us another serving of mint swirl cookies?"

"Alright"

"We're ready to order!"

"I'm right there with you."

Every employee was being driven up the wall dealing with their fair share of needy customers; including Aria who was taking the brunt of it all. She took orders, ran multiple tables, cleaned, hosted- basically everything other than make the deserts because after her first and last failed attempt at using the oven she was banned from going anywhere near the kitchen by the manager who even ordered the staff to make sure she never went in there unsupervised.

Ritsu threw her tray down in frustration after entering the kitchen where Aria was getting her next order from the table.

"Something the matter?" asked Aria glancing over at the girl

Ritsu tugged at her hair "I can't take this anymore! Why the heck did we have to have a half off promotion ON A FREEKING FRIDAY with double shifts!?"

"It's certainly rowdy out there." Aria said attempting to calm the older girl. "I think of it as an opportunity for more tips."

"Here's a tip; take the weekends off from now on."

Ritsu pouted as Aria went back outside to deal with the customers

* * *

Aria changed back into her casual clothes, the promotion was finally at an end and it was quitting time. Aria and Ritsu were the last ones to leave that night having stayed for clean up duty as well. Ritsu was sitting in a chair fanning herself from utter exhaustion.

"I'm tired...I thought this day would never end." Ritsu moaned while Aria giggled.

"I'd say it was a good day for the cafe."

"Yeah but not for us."

"I've made some good tips so we'll just agree to disagree." Aria stated tucking her hair into her hoody.

"Now that I think about it..." Ritsu trailed "You've been working nearly non-stop for the past week why?"

Aria groaned softly and rubbed her eyes "I'm afraid I need to buy something that will be way over my budget."

'And it was either working double time over here or returning to my old sketchy odd jobs before I entered school.'

"And what would this be?"

"An entertainment package," Aria explained with no hesitance "I have to buy a TV-set."

"Okay, care to explain why?"

Aria then proceeded to tell her co-worker about her friend in the other class of her school and how he had wanted to watch a movie with her but when he told her that they weren't able to watch it at his place she offered to let them watch it by her even though she didn't have a TV-set to begin with. By the end of that explanation Ritsu was laughing so hard she nearly fell off her chair.

"Wait you're actually doing this just because you want to watch a movie with your friend?"

Aria nodded, speaking nothing but truth "He sounded really upset over the phone; I could only imagine the face he was pulling. He's really cute."

"Don't you mean hot?" Ritsu asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes now.

The dark haired girl shook her head "No, cute suits him better because he's actually a bit short for a boy and he has long hair and-

"Aw...Aria do you like him?"

"Of course I like him but I'm guessing not in the terms you're thinking of. We haven't known each other that long but we do get along very well." Aria responded crossing her arms over her chest

"So you like him but not like-

"In romantic terms is still a question I have yet to answer for myself before I can answer it to anyone else."

Ritsu shook her head "You're a very strange girl."

Aria smiled back at her "I get that a lot."

Looking at the time on the watch Ritsu cringed "Great..."

"What's wrong?" Aria asked

"It's really late and the bus stops quite a distance..."

Ritsu didn't live as far as Aria did from the cafe since she only had to take the bus while Aria had to take a train.

"Can't you call someone to pick you up?"

Shaking her head Ritsu sighed "No one's going to be available at this time. College students tend to be out partying at this time of the night and can't drive because-

"They're drunk." Aria finished

"Exactly and man I wouldn't really mind if there weren't also delinquents wandering around this time of night!"

Aria raised an eyebrow at her "Shouldn't you have thought about that before you took the extra shift?"

"I'm human I'm allowed to make stupid decisions!" was Ritsu's counter

* * *

There were many things about the outside world that Aria had lost caution of for she would always be retreated back to Phoenix once her assignments were finished. She had become unfamiliar with the dangerous that lurked around other than the factors of their assignments. In fact as far as the outside world went; she was not a part of it for so long, always hiding in the shadows so of course stepping into the light with everyone else was a difficult transition even if she didn't realise it.

"Look the bus is coming." Aria said

Ritsu stood up and sighed in relief "Thank goodness! Thanks for waiting for me Aria-chan but are you going to be okay heading back by yourself now I'm worried about you."

"I'm perfectly capable of making it to the train station." Aria assured waving

With some hesitance Ritsu boarded the bus, Aria waited until it turned the corner before she began making her way back down the street from the way she came. There weren't a lot of people out now; the girls had been waiting for nearly half an hour before the bus arrived, there weren't a lot of vehicles on the road and there were even less people strolling on sidewalks.

* * *

As Aria continued to make her way to the train station she heard shuffling noises and voices coming from an alley way. The voices sounded muffled and she couldn't make them out but she hurt grunts of pain coming from there. Curiously and without caution Aria stepped into the alley, the darkness of the narrow space obscured five figures she could barely make out. One of them was lying on the floor gasping in pain. It didn't take much for her to put two and two together and realise the reason for it.

"Well, well boys what do we have here?" one of them said, with the little light Aria could tell that this person wasn't that much older than her. She could guess the same went for the rest of them, probably in high school.

"Oh Ryuki who is this boy?"

"Ah kids like this don't carry around cash."

Aria was wearing a large hoody with some plain cargo pants that did nothing for her figure, in fact it just made her look stocky and thanks to the dark her face was hidden further.

"Get out of here kid before you get hurt. This ain't none of your business."

"I would but it seems I got myself involved with this by letting my curiosity get the better of me," she stated looking at the man

" _62 let me ask you a question, what is Phoenix Academy's aims?"_

" _To create assassins,"_

" _Correct, what is an assassin?"_

" _A person hired to take the lives of those who they are ordered to by their clients."_

" _Exactly, that is all an assassin is. An assassin does not fight for a course, they do not kill for their own personal pleasure but to full fill the wishes of others, we do not determine the guilty, we do not decide the punishment, we are merely the instruments used to execute our holders wishes and we are NOT in the rescue business."_

Aria's usually smiling face went blank as she looked over at the high school delinquents. "Just let him go, I'm not in the mood to play."

They laughed hysterically at her after she spoke "Teach this kid a lesson!"

One of the larger guys came forward towering over her, drawing his fist back he went to punch her but then Aria hopped into the air and did a quick spin to deliver a powerful kick to the side of the guys head successfully knocking him unconscious.

"What the-

"Why you little son of a-

"Get em boys!"

There was nothing, nothing in her eyes, nothing on her face, no sign of enjoyment or remorse as she fought against the three remaining guys. Her attacks were quick meant to do nothing more than immobilise her opponent. Typical close quarters combat. Even when the one known as Ryuki pulled out a switch blade when he was the last one standing while his followers were on the ground in pain, Aria didn't waver.

"You'll pay for this you bastard!" he yelled before moving to stab her.

As quick as lightning Aria grabbed his wrist and twisted it causing him to drop the knife and then flipped him over her shoulder making him yelp in pain.

There was a familiar rush of adrenaline coursing through her in those few short moments.

" _Be quick to strike, do not allow yourself to be hit first and most of all make sure they can't get back up."_

" _Do it quickly."_

Sighing softly Aria went over to the man who had been attacked by the high school boys and handed him the wallet she found after shuffling through Ryuki's pockets.

"I wouldn't take alley ways again." Aria said

The man looked like he was about to speak when he looked behind Aria and his eyes went wide, sensing someone behind her Aria was about to deliver another swift blow but was stopped when someone came rushing through the alley way and sent the delinquent who had regained consciousness straight to the back of the alley until he hit a couple of trashcans.

Aria looked up at the new arrival "Aw...that was way too quick how disappointing."

Turning back Aria helped the man up, he gave a quick thank you rather shaken and then left Aria alone with the new arrival and the passed out high school students.

"Well that was no fun, went fishing for delinquents and someone already stole my catch."

Aria decided not to stick around anymore, feeling the rush of fighting still fresh in her, her heart pounding against her chest; her muscles were tense and her breathing shallow.

" _What the hell!"_

" _Ah someone stop her!"_

" _62 THAT'S ENOUGH."_

 _Pulled back she stared at the body lying on the ground with a passive expression. Her opponent was coughing up red, his eyes stained with tears._

" _This is boring..."_

As she left the alley footsteps seemed to be stepping in line with hers right behind her. She chose to ignore it knowing that it was most likely the person that kicked the other guy.

'Not again...' she thought looking at her hand-once steady when fighting was now shaking like a leaf in the wind.

"Hey you." she heard a males voice call "Where you going?"

Instead of replying like she usually would with her smile; she continued walking.

"Hey man!" the voice continued and she knew that she was still being followed so she decided to pick up the pace.

 _A heavy hand slammed down on the desk "This is the third case in a month 62! I warned you before! You keep sending your sparring partners to the infirmary!"_

" _I-I don't know what happens sir, I-I just go blank and I don't know what I'm doing!"_

" _An assassin needs to be in complete control of themselves not just their emotions but mind and body as well! If you allow yourself to continue to be blinded by whatever it is that triggers this behaviour you will become obsolete! At least take your opponents down fast instead of drawing out the battle the way you do!"_

" _I understand."_

" _I swear it's as if there's a part of you that enjoys watching them suffer."_

Spinning on her heel Aria captured the fist that came for the back of her head, she strained feeling the strength of this person. He was clearly someone who fought a lot. He could be considered stronger than those guys back in the alley.

"I just wanted to ask you some questions but since you're not answering me and you stole my catch let's play a little. You must be a pretty good fighter right?"

Aria stepped back but the boy ran towards her with speed that told her he wanted to knock her over, she side stepped him in time. He recovered quickly though because he continued to come at her but she kept dodging his attacks.

"Why are you only ducking?" he asked, still attempting to land a hit on her while all Aria was trying to do was tire him out.

" _Self defence is low priority for an assassin; remember we are trained to kill not fight."_

'Lost control, increasing pace, warped and bewitched and time to erase. Whatever they say. These people are torn. Wild and bereft Assassin is born'

Stopping abruptly her hoody was grabbed she watched as the strangers fist came towards her face she then opened her mouth "I don't want to fight."

The fist stopped mere inches away from her face.

"You're...a girl?"

The softness of her voice was a dead give away to her gender as always, if only those high school delinquents had paid closer attention they would've noticed it as well. The top of her hoody fell from her face making it visible by the street lights.

"Yes I am." Aria answered, she then got a closer look at the boy, he couldn't have been that much older than her-fact she was sure he was in the same grade as her; he had azure coloured eyes almost gold, fair skinned and deep red hair.

"Tomato" Aria said

"Huh?"

"You hair, it's as red as a tomato." Aria pointed out looking at his hair.

The boy seemed taken aback by her statement, he had just attempted to punch her and that is one of the first things she says after a delayed 'I don't want to fight'.

"If you didn't want to fight why didn't you tell me earlier?" the red head asked

"You didn't ask if I wanted to fight or not you just started attacking me under the assumption I was trying to pick a fight with you by ignoring you."

Scratching the back of his head the stranger spoke "You really should've opened your mouth sooner. Instead you kept on dodging so it's your fault."

"What's my fault?"

"That I kept attacking," he said it like it was the total truth as if he believed it.

"I do believe it's your fault." Aria countered "You tried to hit me without any real reason. You can't say it was because I stole your fight with those other guys just because you arrived too late."

He frowned at her "You're weird."

Aria smiled "I get that a lot but I think that's because people don't typically meet someone like me so they think I'm unusual. I could say the same for you; I've never met anyone before who roams around at night looking for fights; or has hair like a tomato."

"Karma," he said seeming to stiffen when she mentioned 'tomato' "Akabane Karma."

She held out her hand a tiny smile still on her face "Nice to meet you Akabane Karma, I'm Tsukimi Aria."

Taking her hand and shaking it; Karma got a closer look at her face "You look blind."

"I know; that's what everyone thinks." Aria told him before noticing the smirk on his face; his eyes held a certain glimmer that she was quick to place. "You look mischievous."

"Huh?"

"The way you're smirking and your eyes make me think you're mischievous."

Pulling back her hand Aria walked passed him "I need to go now or I'll miss my train. Goodbye Akabane-san"

She heard him muttering 'weirdo' before the sound of footsteps began to follow in the opposite direction of her.

* * *

The train was nearly empty, there was someone sleeping on the train further away from where Aria was sitting and two other people who were dressed up in suits most likely coming back from work late.

'The second time,'

Aria realised that this was the second time she had shown off her skills but that didn't matter to her; she had expected to use her abilities even in her new life. She just didn't use it unnecessarily to draw attention.

Shuffling through her bag for a book she glanced at her phone on the seat and saw that it was nearly midnight and that she had some messages from Nagisa.

" _ **Hey Aria, I'm gonna be about an hour late tomorrow but we can still hang out if that's okay."**_

'He is so timid.' Aria thought noting how he basically asked her if it was alright for him to be late an hour and that he had sent the same message to her three times during the day.

Dialling his number she waited three rings before he picked up "Hello Aria?"

"Evening Nagisa, I just got your messages now. I hope you weren't sleeping when I called-though you don't sound like you were. About tomorrow; it is okay if you're a little late and you don't have to feel guilty about it just call me beforehand."

"Oh okay." Nagisa said on the other end of the line "So we're still on for lunch?"

"Of course," she replied

"Alright," Aria noted that Nagisa sounded relieved now.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

When returning home Aria snuck into her apartment without making much indication that she was back and that included turning on the lights because she was certain that if the landlady heard her she would be pounding on her door demanding to know why she was coming in so late despite it really not being any of her business. Aria knew better than to rile up the women for she was the kind who would persist if she said something the wrong way.

She dressed into her night clothes and went straight to bed without giving the day's events a second thought only thing that came to mind was...

'I'll be able to get that TV set at the end of the week!'

 **Please review**


	6. Chapter 6: Sleepover and suspicion

**Hello everyone; I wanted to say thanks for the reviews and I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

* * *

Aria sighed as she stared at the blank TV screen, after all researching, budgeting, setback's and overtime at the cafe' she was able to get a decent television set-and right on time too because the deadline for the movie night was but a few minutes away and Aria knew that Nagisa would be on his way over to her home; the tiny apartment where she lived alone with no guardian. That was the fact and because of that Aria realised that Nagisa would be prone to question it but at the same time she did not feel overwhelmed by the fact. Doing a quick glance at the time once again she saw that it was exactly 7:00 in the evening.

'He should be here soon,'

Aria had set out her futon with some extra pillows along with a few drinks and store bought snacks. She had even managed to make microwave popcorn; of course all that required was placing the package in and setting the timer so no real effort on her part and no real chance for her to mess it up. She had told Nagisa that it would be better for them to watch the movie after he had dinner at home since she forewarned him of her inability to create anything edible in the kitchen and that she only ever ate convenient store food.

It had occurred to her that she had invited someone over to her apartment for the first time since she had become a resident and given her circumstances it statistically didn't seem like the brightest idea but Aria believed that an analysis like that would only be accurate if she believed that she was in danger, of course her life would forever be in danger having left Phoenix but not to a level where she wasn't allowed to invite a friend over to her house. Her only real concern would be if anyone from the main campus where she was currently situated knew where she lived as she had given the impression to most that she doesn't live alone and should they find out they might be tempted to dig further around for more information; even though discovery of her true identity was next to impossible.

There was a knock at her door.

"Coming,"

As expected when Aria opened the door Nagisa was standing, he seemed a little winded giving indication to Aria had he must've hurried to her, he was also carrying a bag.

Aria put on her usual smile "You look tired, did you rush here?"

"I-I thought you said to be here by seven-

"Nagisa it's only five minutes pass, you're not late." Aria told him stepping aside making room for him to enter "Come on in."

With a slight nod Nagisa took a few hesitant steps till he was finally through the door allowing Aria to close it, he went further in and took in her apartment.

"It's small but it's comfortable for one person." Aria chose to explain

Nagisa turned back to look at her "Huh, you're living alone?"

She nodded "There's a reason but it's a rather long story and full of complications and circumstances I'm sure would make you uncomfortable."

That was all in truth, the story going that she ran away from the orphanage that was actually a secret organisation that trained kid assassins and that the organisation would most likely be searching for her. She knew that during events like these friends shared secrets but she did not believed that this particular secret she could share without getting badly scathed.

"Did you have trouble finding the apartment?" she asked

Nagisa smiled shaking his head "No, your landlady pointed me in the right direction."

Not long after the two had settled down onto the futon, when Nagisa pulled out Sonic Ninja he also pulled out a few other movies.

"Ah, sorry I thought since it was a movie night...

Aria let out a soft giggle, peering over Nagisa's shoulder to look at the selection "Did you rent these?"

"Yeah..." Nagisa muttered off blushing slightly "T-Those are kinda recent and-

"Well I think this is just great," Aria said before going to put in the first movie which was Sonic Ninja; Nagisa had told it was now an older version as a newer one would be coming out soon but it wouldn't have Japanese subtitles.

There was very little talking between the two during the movie, Nagisa did however point out that the main character was someone kids like them usually admired.

"The kind of hero that is his own worst enemy," was Aria's comeback on it "Of course it makes sense for kids our age to like a character like that since we usually relate to that kind of character."

Nagisa didn't need any further explanation from her than that and they were watching a movie anyway so it would've been disruptive but he knew what Aria meant. Her insights sometimes worried Nagisa as she never really seemed to filter or withhold her opinions and thoughts. She had told him about her given habit of being blunt so it shouldn't be that surprising anymore and yet she still managed to faze him.

After Sonic Ninja they moved on to the second movie, this one was a romance comedy in which Aria and Nagisa both found themselves laughing and giggling through the sketches of awkward events that took place between the characters. The plot went as a girl who was awkward, out of place with a past and the typical boy who hardly seemed to have any problems at the beginning but then as they go further into the movie they discover he has a history as well and it also includes a love triangle. The two face trials that are both difficult and while seeming like a bad match for one another as the plot thickens so does their feelings.

After the movie they had a quick discussion about it as they also tried deciding what to watch next.

"It's cliché and yet at the same time despite its predictability it's still popular. Suppose typical is preferential,"

There was a crack in her voice that did not go unnoticed by Nagisa, it was the first time he believed he ever actually heard Aria sounded...sad.

"W-Well it's usually a happy ending..." Nagisa said

"Except in this case," Aria said "There is a love triangle so...there are a lot of doubts and mixed feelings in the end however the answer is obvious though."

"Yeah, I guess love triangles are kinda annoying,"

"It's not that," Aria said starring at the screen "But when you think about it, choosing the second person is better because if you really cared for the first you wouldn't have fallen for the second right?"

Nagisa shrugged his shoulders "I guess but then again, love isn't something that is limited and even if you fall in love with another person it wouldn't set your decision in stone given that you still think about the first."

Now it was Aria's turn to shrug "I'm not really an expert on these kinds of things."

"Neither am I,"

* * *

Initially Nagisa had brought the other movies in case Aria found their first set movie a bore but instead she seemed to have liked his choice in movies and wanted to watch all of them with him. She did ask him beforehand concerning time but Nagisa gave her a crooked smile and said it would be fine though she told him flat out by the look on his face she doubted it. In the end however they ended up watching three of the five movies and falling asleep on the fourth one.

Which resulted in...

Nagisa felt like he was sleeping on something soft, his world was a blur as he attempted to bury his face further in the soft comfort, as he finally settled he was able to detect a distinct beat at a constant rhythm yet his mind was awakening still from the world of dreams, his eyes opened but it was hard to see anything. Then he heard a soft groan and froze.

With much hesitance and fear, gulping Nagisa's eyes travelled upwards to where he had heard the noise and his eyes widened. He saw Aria, her eyes closed and soft breaths leaving her slightly opened mouth, she was lying rather awkwardly on the makeshift sofa that had become a bed and then Nagisa realised that he had fallen asleep right on top of her.

"Ah!"

Silver eyes shot open at the alarming scream and Aria-thinking that she was in danger, took action and tackled the closest thing to a person which happened to be Nagisa. Her eyes were narrowed and sharp as she glared and about to strike but she quickly reverted when she noticed who it was under her.

"Nagisa what are you doing?"

"I-I-

He wasn't entirely sure what to say at this point but he did not miss that sudden change of expression in Aria's face.

"Um, we fell asleep."

Looking at the time on the wall clock Aria nodded and removed herself from on top of Nagisa "I'm sorry about that, I thought you were a threat for a second."

Nodding Nagisa sat up but didn't have much time to recover before Aria was close to him again examining him for any injuries.

"I'm so sorry really,"

"It's-It's alright."Nagisa said rubbing the back of his head

Aria then looked up at him "Guess we couldn't finish all the movies after all, oh well always next time."

With a light blush Nagisa nodded "I should probably call my mom."

Aria nodded as Nagisa went to step outside to make the phone call, she didn't bother to ask him why he would have to need to leave the room and be out of ear shot because she could only imagine the reaction from his mother who must be worried. To pass the time she decided to start cleaning up the remnants of their movie night. By the time she was finished-as there wasn't that much to clean up Nagisa came back in seeming very discouraged.

"She was mad." Aria stated and Nagisa didn't bother to hide it but Aria caught a glimmer of fear in his eyes that seemed a fraction more than what it should be.

"I don't think I'll be able to have any more movies nights for a while." Nagisa told her with a soft sight

"Don't worry," Aria said smiling "I'm glad I got to have my first movie night with you Nagisa, I enjoyed myself."

She wasn't sure of what compelled her to do it but Aria walked over to Nagisa and brought him to a gentle embrace that was comforting. Nagisa seemed to relax a bit at her gesture settling in her arms.

For on9ce they were both at a loss for words.

* * *

"Jelly bread and cake again Aria?" asked Subaru in disbelief "You're a growing girl AND the cafeteria foods a lot better! Not to mention you're gonna get fat!"

"I prefer not to eat there too much so it doesn't make a difference," Aria responded "I don't want to get hooked on cafeteria food; I'd end up spending most of my money there then."

Subaru watched Aria eat her lunch before sighing and eating her own "I do not understand your preferences."

She shrugged "I have a sweet tooth and convenient stores snacks are cheap."

"Yes because they're a one way ticket to obesity!"

She and Subaru were the only one's meeting up for lunch as Akane and Mina both had extra mural and sport meetings to attend that day. So it was only the two girls that were gathered in their usual spot under a large tree with nearly no one in sight.

There were a few students that walked past her "The E-class is here now."

"Yeah they just made it through the gate on time; lucky them. Last time they were late they had to clean out the campuses flowerbeds."

Aria raised an eyebrow "The E-class is here?"

Subaru gasped in realisation "Oh right you don't know about it. Every month there's an assembly and the E-class is allowed down from the mountain. They have to be lined up before the rest of the classes or they get a punishment."

Aria made Aria made a small 'mm' sound.

"What's wrong?" asked Subaru leaning towards Aria "You look like you're thinking about something."

Aria closed her eyes "Just thinking about this weekend."

Aria had found herself wondering about Nagisa; she believed she was concerned about him. He had gone home after they hugged without saying much of anything and she hadn't heard from him for nearly two days.

'The E-class coming down so that means I can see him,'

* * *

"About time the two of you showed up." Akane said watching as Aria and Subaru arrived in the school hall where the students were beginning to gather.

"The E-class is already lined up." Pointed Mina looking on the far end where the E-class were already neatly lined up, heads down, girls on one side boys on the other.

"I can't really see them though." Aria commented looking to her right; she could see the line but she couldn't spot Nagisa 'Times like this his size is a downfall for me.'

"Well doesn't matter; we'll still be able to poke fun at them only real downfall is we can't see the looks on their faces when we do." Akane said with a mischievous glint in her eyes-one that had Aria guessing that the E-class was typically ridiculed when it came to this assembly. She could tell that it was the highlight of the month for them.

'Honestly don't these students have any other way to boost their ego's'

Aria continued looking until one of the students moved and she spotted blue hair 'Nagisa!' she smiled. Unfortunately they had arrived slightly later than expected so Aria was not able to go over to her E-class friend.

* * *

The assembly began with the regular greetings and then informing the students of recent and upcoming events that included their finals, a school outing to Kyoto and so on.

"Essentially you are the cream of the crop-this nation's chosen elite. I your school dean and vouch for that. But if you're not careful..." he looked over at the E-class you could end up like certain other good for nothings."

Everyone started to laugh at the comment at the E-classes expense that included Aria's friends while she remained silent looking around. She knew that 3E was discriminated against and ridiculed but it's like the saying goes:

Seeing is Believing

'The worst'

Aria hadn't bothered to listen to the rest of the lecture for it all went towards insulting the E-class. It wasn't as if she was against the system; it worked after all and was very logical but in her own opinion using others to benefit yourself reminded her too much of Phoenix.

'It's just like back there. Merely pawns sacrificed to win the game.'

"Hey, Hey"

"Look is that an E-class teacher."

"He's so hot."

"Yeah I'm jealous; all the guys and teachers in our school are butt-ugly."

Curious Aria glanced over back at the E-class though it was hard to see with all the other classes pupils blocking the way.

"What are you doing?" asked Akane

"Trying to get a look at the E-class." Whispered Aria but it was no use, everyone was blocking her line of sight.

"Don't worry you'll be able to take a crack at them when assembly's over."

Aria frowned slightly "That's not my intention but at least I'll be able to see them then."

Akane didn't comment on Aria's statement and turned her attention back to the teacher in front of the stage.

Then she heard someone else whispering "Hey look."

"That super hot foreign lady"

Aria glanced behind her like the rest of the curious students only to see a women walking in from the entrance of the hall; strutting down drawing a lot of attention to herself; her blonde wavy hair bounced with every step she took, her shimmering blue eyes looked right ahead of her; her figure was enough to capture the eyes of almost every male in the hall and a few females, she was also clad in a tight white short skirt and blazer with a black top revealing a lot of cleavage.

Aria gasped however when that women was in her line of sight 'It can't be...!'

"Who is that?" whispered Subaru

"I don't know but she's gorgeous." Mina whispered back

"She's an E-class teacher? All our teachers are old women and men that could be grandparents." Akane whispered distastefully.

Aria's attention however was on something completely different; her eyes had never deceived her before and she was certain they weren't deceiving her now. This mystery women who was joining the E-class was someone Aria was familiar with not in a person sense but she knew this women's occupation.

Irina Jelavich; profession: assassin.

Back at the Academy they had always recruited retired assassins to train their students but not all of them were permanent faculty like the rest because they trained their own assassins independently. Sometimes they would use their past students as examples of what kind of assassin a Phoenix could become or just simply boast about their achievements. Either way they were learning the names and methods of assassins already out in the world.

Irina was a top example for most females to follow in the line of assassins work; she was famous for seducing her targets and eliminating them with ease; she was fluent in several languages as well that allowed her to take on jobs all around the world. She was what most Phoenix women idolised; she was in a way a celebrity to assassins; though Aria was never one to follow trends herself she knew just as much about her as the rest of the Phoenix pupils.

What Aria wanted to know was what a top assassin was doing in a junior high school assembly hall. Everyone seemed to think that she was a teacher which led Aria to think that there might be something going on in the E-class.

That was her immediate assumption; only question was what exactly?

'It couldn't be in relation to me right?' she wondered.

There was no doubt that Phoenix would be looking for her and hunting her but to have already discovered her location? That wasn't possible. She had taken measures to ensure she wasn't discovered.

Her identity for one thing.

Could Irina be there to capture her? That made no sense to her; professional assassins did not retrieve people, they eliminated them.

Aria swallowed 'If that's the case...then why in E-class?'

Aria was always able to solve things like a puzzle, all she had to do was find the pieces, look at them and it was like they fell into place on their own. However this time she could make no sense of the pieces right in front of her. Unless she came up with some other theory but likely it wouldn't seem believable.

'If I was to be discovered I'd think it's more likely someone from Phoenix would be after me.' She thought

There had only ever been one other escape from Phoenix and it was clear that once you turned rogue there was never any going back. That was made final to them.

* * *

The rest of the assembly went by quick enough and Aria immediately headed outside without her friends to go and see Nagisa. His class had apparently caused a disruption with their teachers arriving not to mention their laughing over something after the hand outs of their handouts which they weren't supposed to get apparently.

"Where is he?" Aria wondered looking around. She could worry about Irina at another time and Nagisa was in the E-class so he may be able to inform her a bit about the situation of course she didn't expect him to have full disclosure of the situation unless they were running something shady up in that E-class but that wasn't possible right? Or was it that Aria just didn't want to believe it herself.

She spotted her friend over at the vending machine; she was about to walk over to him

Aria looked back at where Nagisa was standing and saw that two students from the main campus had cornered him at the vending machine. There were a few onlookers as well and it seemed that he was one of the last students from E-class to leave to head back up the mountain.

Aria pulled her face before she started a quick paced walk towards them 'This place...'

She was close enough now to hear them stating their insults; apparently telling him that the E-class should just keep their heads down and their mouths shut-suppose it had something to do with their little display during the assembly when they broke out in laughter for whatever reason.

One of them grabbed Nagisa by his shirt roughly.

"Go on say something E-class" sneered the student "You want me to kill you?!"

Aria was about to step in to help her friend but no more than two steps and she was frozen in her spot when Nagisa looked back up at the two students with a calm smile and a certain gleam in his eyes that Aria had only been able to see yet never achieve.

"As if you've ever tried to kill anyone before."

Unable to suppress the look of surprise on her face, Aria watched as the two boys jumped back away from Nagisa and the bluenette started making his way out of the school.

'Was that look...bloodlust?' she wondered before rushing over to Nagisa that was already near the exit of the school.

"Nagisa!" Aria called rushing over to him

Turning back around his eyes shone with surprise but Aria wasn't able to see that look in his eyes anymore. It was as if he could make it come and go as he pleased. Aria was starting to doubt her own eyes for the first time with seeing Irina and with seeing Nagisa.

"Hey Aria." He replied with a smile as if nothing had happened only seconds ago. She did her best to play along with it.

"I thought that was you." She said smiling at him "I caught sight of your blue hair earlier on in the assembly."

Nagisa gave a small chuckle "You saw me then huh?"

"Sort of, it was kinda hard when everyone is blocking the way. My eyes are sharper than they look but I don't have x-ray vision."

The two started to laugh together for a few short moments; the uncomfortable stares were nonexistent to them as some of the students that remained behind watched them converse.

"I know you said no more movie nights but that doesn't mean we can't still hang out again right?"

Nagisa's eyes widened "N-No of course not, when do you want to...

"How about next weekend?" Aria suggested

"Okay." he replied "We can talk more on the train, I should get going before I'm the last one back."

Aria nodded giving Nagisa a quick hug before taking her leave not bothering to look over at those people starring at her like she was an enigma. The whispers did not serve their purpose of being unheard however.

"Did you see that?"

"Yeah what is she thinking?"

"And she's in the A-class?"

"Why would she be friends with him?"

"That E-class scum"

While Aria had been aware of the security cameras placed all around the school; she hadn't given thought that the live footage was being viewed that very moment just as she didn't appear to pay attention to the remaining students surprise including the Big Five...

"Should we do something about that Asano-kun?"

Gakushu gave a small smirk.

* * *

Principal Asano stared at his computer monitor with a critical eye; assessing the current upturn of events he had not been aware of until this point. He watched as Aria and Nagisa parted ways at the entrance/exit of the school.

"The E-class is shoving normal students aside undauntedly. That doesn't make sense. Not in my school." his eyes trailed along after Aria's pixel image on the screen making its way into the building "Arianna Tsukimi...an asset or detriment?"

He was silent for a few moments, critically analysing the situation at hand that could cause a dent in his system.

"This is now my top priority."


	7. Discovery

**Hey my wonderful readers; I've finally gotten through the next chapter of this story and a little heads up from me Aria's about to make an interesting discovery.**

 **READ AND ENJOY**

* * *

Things were not looking good from Aria's perspective; on top of juggling school, her studies, pupils; living in an apartment alone and paying for it with her own money she made at her part time job she now had to deal with the discovery of a top assassin being so close in her facility. Catching sight of Irina at the school when E-class had come down to main campus for the monthly assembly had Aria becoming more suspicious of the situation. She was still unsure of what exactly the professional assassin was doing here of all places but she couldn't rule out that Aria herself may be the reason.

'But if that were the case then wouldn't she know who I was and where to find me; besides this kind of task isn't up to standard with her regular target preferences.' Aria thought

This had all happened a few short hours ago and it was robbing Aria of her sleep-something she would need to have in order to function the next day. She was one who valued her rest and if she did not get it-no matter who or what it was that needed her attention she would not be able or willing to do give it.

Back to the matter at hand, she was at a loss for what move to make next. Things were in danger of falling out of place too soon.

'Should I leave?'

That thought left as quickly as it came, if she were to make such an attempt chances are she would escape but she would have to begin all over again; those months spent making a life for herself would be lost in the blink of an eye; it would be a very rash judgement call. There was also no actual guarantee that Irina was here for her. But if that was true then who could she be targeting? Who could be so important that they needed to be taken out? And why would it be someone from a junior high school? These were all factors that just didn't match up well with each other.

One thing was clear though-it was too dangerous for an assassin to trust in coincidence.

* * *

"Good morning Aria!" called Akane as the familiar silver-eyed girl entered the classroom however the A-class student fell silent when she caught sight of her friends appearance. Her usually neat-well fitted uniform was slightly muddled-part of her shirt wasn't tucked into her slightly creased skirt, the top two buttons of h

* * *

er shirt was untied and her tie was lose around her neck; her blazer was unbuttoned giving clear view to all of these attire errors. Her hair was slightly more bedraggled and under her eyes were lightly dark circles indicating for her lack of sleep.

"We need to talk-

Luckily before Akane-or anyone else could question her the bell rang signalling homeroom barely even a minute before Aria had entered the class. She quickly took her seat at the back near the window. Her head fell down on her desk without a shred of concern for some of the eyes that were on her.

Aria had stayed up the entire night attempting to get some enlightenment on what kind of affect the previous chain of events would have on her and her new life but there were too many missing pieces to the puzzle; therefore she was unable to see the full picture.

The only thing all of her late night contemplating had actually done was fuel her curiosity to know more but how she was going to do that was another matter she was too tired to address presently.

She was so fatigued that not only had Aria missed role call-for which one of her friends had accounted for her presence; but then homeroom was soon over and it was time to begin classes.

* * *

 _Sitting at a large table that followed by rows of others were many others but she paid them no heed; silver eyes glared strongly down at the piece of parchment in front of her. Her pen glided across the paper in smooth strokes. There were the soft of footsteps that reached her ears and stopped just behind her. She felt a powerful presence looming over her small form but continued to focus until a powerful voice spoke._

" _You're doing a good job with those schematics 62."_

 _The little girl didn't turn around to acknowledge the figure nor show any sign of appreciation for the compliment._

" _But 62 is such a screw up"_

" _Yeah, what's the point of only being good and drawing up plans yet unable to implement them?"_

" _She accidently detonated her bomb two days ago in the room!"_

" _Luckily the bomb was too weak to kill anyone!"_

 _Laughter filled the room but the girl remained silent; though she continued to look at her paper silent tears ran down her face._

* * *

"Aria-san"

There was a light tap on her shoulder causing the onyx haired girl to jolt awake quickly; she looked up to see Gakushu looking at her with a 'worried' expression on his face. Glancing around the classroom Aria noticed that it was empty.

Rubbing her eyes she craned her neck to the side "How long have I been asleep?"

"Since the beginning of first period and we've just finished third." Gakushu told her with a slight smirk on his face "You should consider yourself lucky none of the teachers have called you up."

Aria let out a small grunt; within the few short weeks she had been attending school she either managed to offend; correct, distance or completely mortify every single one of her teachers-within the limit that kept her from receiving punishment. The teachers had more or less surrendered on creating any student-teacher relationships with her that bordered on good or bad instead they left her to her own activities and as long as she kept getting the marks she had ; she didn't think there would be a problem. So they wouldn't bother her over falling asleep in their classes in order to avoid her snide or quick witted remarks.

"You should go to bed earlier Aria-san; it's not healthy." Gakushu told her.

Aria leaned on her hands and closed her eyes, a frown painting her features "I happened to get plenty of rest; last night I was simply-

She stopped herself.

Being too honest with Asano made Aria feel like she was giving him the key to her own undoing; she was already dealing with one problem. No need to pile on another.

"Simply what?" asked Gakushu

Coughing softly she shook her head "It's nothing for you to worry about."

"As student council president, I believe it is my job to worry about the wellbeing of all the students of Kunugigaoka including yours." he said in a straight laced tone "Especially when it affects their work ethic; exams are coming up soon. I know it was only one day but you may be sent to the E-class if this continues."

Aria gave a soft sigh, of course he would have that kind of response but there was motive behind it; he was trying to back her into a corner again. For whatever reason Asano is trying to confront her about something yet he hadn't said it yet.

"Strange, I got the impression that all students cared for their own grades."

Instead of shutting him up like she had hoped for Asano laughed "That is true; since no one wants to end up in the End Class. However no one from the A-class must drop to E."

"I get it; it would damage the A-classes reputation."

Asano nodded "Exactly, the actions of one reflects on all of us. We are the ones who stand above the rest and must guide everyone so that they can follow our example and see the light. However if we cannot lead ourselves out of darkness how can we allow others to trust us to lead them? Hence we cannot afford to create any bad image towards our schools learning system."

"So what you're saying is that we are like a monarchy who rules the meek?" Aria snapped, at this point she did not care much for keeping her innocent tone as she snapped her blunt statements. Claiming naivety or at least appearing to be victimised by it was one of the reasons Aria hadn't been called out for being too honest. However she was no longer in a mood to balance on that line and simply jumped off.

Asano appeared shocked "Aria-san where did that come from? I'm simply saying that we are the ones that play a guardian role for the other students. We do not rule them as such."

Aria rubbed her temples feeling a headache coming on "I'm sorry for saying that; I do not function well when I don't have enough rest. That was uncalled for on my part"

How long it has been since she said something like that...

For now she would just play along with Asano's act instead of calling him up on it.

Asano nodded "That's alright; it is my responsibility to ensure that the A-class remains standing tall and strong. By that we have to make sure that everyone reaches their full potential and stays on the right path to success."

Simply nodding Aria grabbed her bag and left the classroom without glancing back.

Gakushu smirked as the raven haired girl left and added quietly to himself "Even if it means forcefully dragging them on that path when they resist. For we cannot allow one to compromise and sully everything for the sake of the lowly dirt we used to form our path."

* * *

"Hello Aria, please come back down to earth!" called Subaru smacking the dark haired girl lightly at the back of her head.

"Huh?" Aria turned to face her

"You've been spaced all day, what the heck is wrong?" asked Akane

"I'm worried," she told them bluntly

"You should be." Akane said suddenly frowning "There have been rumours about you getting along with someone from E-class."

"Yeah, that's what I heard as well." Mina told her "You apparently appeared to be pretty chummy with him."

Aria sighed softly; of course this was the kind of reaction she expected from them having seen her with someone the rest of the school deemed beneath them. Rumours were bound to spread and quickly. She couldn't be bothered of course; there were matters far greater that needed her attention rather than gossiping teenagers.

"Oh right, you're talking about when I was with Nagisa."

"How could you be friends with that low life?" asked Mina

"Who I want to be friends with is my concern alone; there are no rule stating that we are not allowed to befriend the students of E-class. I'm fond of Nagisa and enjoy spending time with him."

The three girls looked at Aria as if she had grown a second head.

"Aria," Akane began in a tone that Aria deciphered was for someone about to get a lecture. "I know that you are still quite new and still getting into the swing of things but I thought that we at least had an understanding of how this school works when it comes to the end class."

"I do understand, however I'm not breaking any rules so it doesn't really matter."

Akane sighed "Look if it was someone from any of the other classes then it would've been overlooked but you're in the A-class, what you do affects all of us."

Aria gave no reply; because something else had caught her sharp eyes, or rather someone. It was principal Asano walking out of the gates entrance of the school but it wasn't the front entrance; it was the one that lead to the forest, up the mountains and to the E-class. The question as to why was what quipped her interest as she no longer wished to listen to the never ending preaching's she was going to receive from the three A-class girls.

Aria stood up swiftly "I don't have time to listen to this right now; feel free to lecture me on a topic I won't dwell another time."

With that she left the three girls absolutely speechless as she swiftly turned away from the schools entrance and headed towards where she had seen the principal.

* * *

The trail up the mountain to the E-class has always been considered a challenge; the distance itself plus all of the mountains natural attributes played part in making the journey hard. There were animals and dangerous insects to look out for; crossing over small rivers; falling rocks and more. The fact that an entire class would make their way up and back down the mountain everyday was difficult to believe.

Minutes after Aria saw Gakuho head into the forest, she followed. Students from the main campus never went up to the E-class, one of the reason was they were not allowed and the second being no one actually wanted. Aria didn't find herself fatigued from the walk given her history of training in forests and mountains given that the terrain offered the perfect stimulation for working in difficult environments and bettering survival skills.

She kept a safe distance so as not to be seen by her headmaster but Aria was quick to notice that Gakuho appeared to know the path very well and didn't have any problems making it through the forest unscathed; he showed no signs of exhaustion either.

'It's almost as if he use to come here often.'

Though from what she heard; he hardly gave the E-class any mind. So aside from Irina being there; it was fascinating to see that Gakuho had come all the way up to the E-class himself.

This struck Aria as suspicious and she intended to satisfy her curiosity despite the risk.

* * *

Upon arriving Aria, followed Asano until he came up to a rundown wooden school building with several places on the roof and a few windows boarded up. Most of the students appeared to have left already; she didn't rule out that there might still be a few students around in the building and that there were still teachers there as well. Aria scoped the perimeter of the building carefully until she heard her principal's voice as she came upon one of the larger windows that were wide open. Crouching down she slid underneath the window and listened. She picked up on exactly four voices.

"We meet at last Korosensei," she heard Gakuho greet

'Koro sensei?' Aria wandered to herself

"He says he's the principal of this place," a women's voice said

"As teacher's he's our boss."

Then she heard odd sounds followed by a surprised gasp "My, my-you've come all this way! Say might I have a little bump in my salary? I've added a few more clones you see, and I'm sure it's in your power-

"I must apologise," Gakuho said "I'd meant to come pay my respects. The Ministry of Defence and Mr Karasuma have told me all about you. I can't claim I understand everything but..."

'Ministry of defence,'

Now she was certain something was going on in this school.

Unable to take the burning curiosity inside of her, Aria slowly began to push her body upwards from her crouching position to see who exactly these four voices belonged to as she could only identify one while another sounded familiar but she couldn't place it...Although what she saw was something that surprised her beyond expectations.

There were four figures standing near the door of what appeared to be an office, one was Irina and the other was the man Aria had caught a glimpse of in the hall during assembly, then in front of them starring at one another was Gakuho Asano and-what was so shocking it made her forget that a top assassin was also in that room, a tall yellow creature, with a face so animated it seemed to be plastered in the permanent smile which could only be described as a smiley face emogi; he wore a long red and black cloak, but she could see his long arms coming out and several tentacle like legs from bellow. Aria had never seen anything like this before and because of that she was in a short trance; she had to hold back a gasp of shock so they wouldn't find her. The one conclusion that Aria was able to draw up from all of this was that she more than likely had not been discovered by Phoenix Academy which saved her identity but now there were even more questions that were beginning to enter her mind as she finally gained control of her emotions and rapid pulse.

Aria frowned with her hand over her heart 'Irina, this school, the principal, that-that octopus guy...Koro sensei what exactly is going on?'

She then began watching and continued to listen in on the conversation as Gakuho began speaking to the odd being "How very sad you are. Looking to become the saviour of the world, only to fall into the role of the great villain who would destroy it"

Aria took in everything that was being said word for word but was unable to draw up any of her own theories as of yet.

"But let's set that aside for now. Struggle as I might I cannot hope to save the planet from its crisis."

Yet another piece of information that Aria stored away and she wasn't liking where this conversation was heading, then again no one really expects good news after hearing someone mention the world being in crisis-it obviously had something to do with the three metre octopus-like creature in the room.

"Barring the unexpected I'll stay out of your assassination all together." Gakuho finished

Aria nearly lost her balance when she heard the world assassination. That was one word she was not expecting to hear in a school although nothing about this situation bordered on a normal school vibe.

Irina then spoke, reminding Aria that she was in fact there "Well aren't you rational man, I like rational men."

"I'm honoured." Gakuho said before turning back and walking towards the window "However as principal, I must consider what's in store the next year and beyond, should the earth survive."

'The world's going to end' that was what Aria picked up from the conversation so far and she was about to pick up a lot more. She quickly ducked down as the principal moved to sit on the windowsill. Directly above her now she remained as silent and still as possible, to keep her presence from being detected.

"In other words, if someone does happen to kill you, what is this school's future?" he asked "Frankly we need to E-class to remain as it is.

Then the mysterious being spoke "As it is? You mean with rock bottom grades and treatment, like now?"

"Yes, are you familiar with the worker ant principle? In any group 20 percent will be lazy and 20 percent will work hard and the remaining 60 percent will be average. My goal is a group with 5 percent slackers and 95 percent hard workers." Gakuho began explaining "'I don't want to be like the E-class' with the 95 percent of students thus determined, my ideal ratio is attainable."

"I see, how logical," replied Koro sensei "Then the 5 percent of the E-class must be kept weak and pitiful."

"I received a complaint today from the D class teacher; 'A student from E-class glared at one of my students and threatened to kill him.'"

Although Aria was still a little off balance having seen and heard everything she had, she knew that they were now discussing what had happened yesterday with Nagisa when he had shown off his bloodlust to scare the students that were picking on him. The story had obviously been blown out of proportion but even so it wouldn't matter as much given who the actual victim was. Although Aria was taking in everything as calmly and analytically as possible there was still one thing that was throwing her off and that was...

"I'm sure the glare is part and parcel of the whole assassination thing. And that's fine." Gakuho said calmly

There it was again, mention of assassination causing chills to run up Aria's spine. Gakuho was right above her, a single slip and her presence would be noted by everything in that room.

"The problem lies in a student with rock bottom grades defying a regular one. Under my policies that cannot stand. Please tell him in no uncertain terms to control himself."

Gakuho removed himself from the window and Aria wasted no time in glancing back up, it appeared that the conversation was over as he began walking towards the door but then he stopped. "Oh and Koro Sensei?"

Throwing something silver into the air he spoke quickly "You have one second to solve this."

Aria watched as Koro sensei grabbed hold of what was a puzzle key and began to move at lightning speed before he was on the floor on second later pulling at it.

'He's fast!'

"You amazing speed lives up to the hype." Asano said "No doubt you can dodge any attempt on your life. But you know Koro Sensei...There are some problems speed can't solve. Now if you'll excuse me."

Aria watched as he opened the door but then Koro-sensei spoke "Ah forgive me Principal Asano but I'm afraid there is one more problem we will need to address. I'm not sure if I should mention it for it might cause a panic."

"What is that?" he asked turning around

"The unfamiliar scented student that's hiding by the window,"

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Aria hadn't moved so fast in so long because they hadn't been a need to until then; disregarding all concerns for being silent; she kept her back turned as she heard some cursing and voices before footsteps trailing behind her. She could tell that there were two following. Aria hadn't taken into account what would happen if she was spotted however right now running seemed to the best option, better than getting caught.

"Hey stop; who are you!?" she heard a males voice call

'They haven't seen my face,' Aria concluded as she continued running 'Identity is everything, if you keep it hidden, you are not guilty; you are not blamed; you are not caught. You are untouchable.'

"Damn she's fast!" she heard a female's voice call obviously Irina

Pushing as hard as she could with her legs Aria leapt through the bushes into the forest away from the trail down the mountain, obviously she would need to go back but first she needed to escape, if she ran all the way down the mountain she might still be followed; she decided it would be better to attempt to lose the two tailing her here now.

"Grab her quickly Karasuma!" Irina said panting "There's a tree blocking her way!"

Aria jumped to one side pushing her foot on a rock before quickly jumping to the next one in order to get high and make it over the fallen tree. The ground Aria was walking on was softer than the forest ground that was usually walked on, it slowed a person down quite a bit and while that included her two pursuers; she didn't believe it was wise to stay down for too long.

"What the hell was that?!" Irina yelled

"Dammit!"

They were trying to pick up the pace, it was obvious that they were so desperate to grab Aria that they weren't willing to fully consider the terrain around them but Aria was.

"She's so fast!"

"Like a damn athlete!" Irina said

'I can't turn around, I can't let them see my face,' she told herself as she jumped again and stepped on another rock using it as leverage to jump up and grab onto the branch of a tree and swing herself forward to create a larger distance jumping over a large mud puddle that was deeper than it appeared.

She heard a shriek and splashing sound followed by some sloshing noises and loud cursing from Irina.

"KARASUMA CATCH THAT BRAT, SHE'S PAYING FOR MY DRYCLEANING."

She knew then that Irina was out of this chase now, so that just left...

"Hold it!"

From then on Aria started making her way through the dense forest by keeping a level footing and to do that she kept kicking off on trees and rocks that were in her path using what would be set backs to her advantage. She wasn't the only one doing this though as she heard quick footsteps behind her, this Karasuma that was following her obviously had a lot of training under his belt.

'Given what I just heard earlier this is the least surprising fact of the day.'

"Stop!" she heard him call "I just need to talk to you!"

She continued to manoeuvre through the forest still being chased; a few minutes passed and she heard the sound of flowing water not too far. Her eyes narrowed in focus before it began darting around the terrain until she spotted a tree with a sturdy branch not too far from her reach, she jumped up and swung her legs forward till she flipped her entire body over and onto the branch then in a squatting position pushed off shooting forward through the trees and over a small stream-one that was easy enough to jump over but she got more distance; Aria landed with a thud on her hands and knees rolling a few times before she pushed off and climbed as high as she could into a tree. Then she began moving to the branch of the next tree, and the next and the next, stopping when she heard footsteps.

Aria saw the spikey haired man stop as he appeared to have lost sight of her "Hey, come out! I promise I'm not going to hurt you! I know you're out here."

'He's good,' Aria thought as she watched him looking at the ground for signs of tracks but she had moved further from where they were made. As Karasuma ducked his head searching Aria lifted the stones she had grabbed and threw them as far as she could listening to them hit the tree. As expected Karasuma heard it and began walking towards where he heard the sound out of sight. Sighing in relief Aria began heading in the opposite direction out of the mountains.

* * *

"Hey Nagisa," Aria greeted to him on the phone "What's up?"

"Hey Aria, I was wandering if you wanted hang out this Saturday?"

"Sure but what about studying, midterms are coming up right?" Aria pointed

"Yes, I know. I was thinking we could study together if you're okay with that..."

"Okay, I'll see you then." Aria said "Bye Nagisa."

"Bye"

Hanging up the line Aria let out a sigh, her eyes narrowed "Nagisa...E-class what exactly is happening at this school?"

 **TADA!**

 **There's a surprise for all of my readers, things are going to be getting pretty interesting after this don't you think?**


	8. Preparing for midterms and blackmail

**Hello everyone. I know that it has been a very long time since I last updated this story but you see I have decided that I cannot handle all of these stories at once and decided to work on a few at a time but since I am currently on holiday from university I am going to work on a few more stories. So you can look forward to more updates.**

 **Oh also for those of you who read my other stories Through the Looking glass has been updated as well.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Aria was up all night tossing and turning, her mind working overtime to figure out exactly what was going on at the E-class. What she had gathered after replaying the conversation between the principal and those E-class teachers word for word was that there was some kind of secret operation going on there and it was something that had to do with the ministry of defence, that strange octopus-like entity called Koro sensei and an assassination of this being and something about saving the world or ending it. There were still a few gaps in the puzzle, with pieces Aria couldn't place because she didn't have them-thus preventing her from seeing the entire picture but all in all she did realise that the E-class may be doing more up there than the rest of the school was aware of.

There was an assassination operation happening at that class; though it was a theory for the first five hours that night and the rest of it she spent hacking into the files of her school, but it wasn't as easy as she thought it was going to be. Turns out not only was Gakuho an exceptional educator but he was also cautious, so cautious that Aria wasn't able to find out any more than he would want anyone else to discover and the only way she had any hope of getting more information is if she got close to the main source of information, probably being one of Gakuho's private devices and hacking the Ministry of defence was out of the question because she did not have the proper equipment for something like that. She only found files on Karasuma and that was to confirm that he was in fact a registered teacher for the E-class but there was no mention of Irina or this Koro-sensei.

Aria frowned deeply as she starred at her computer screen, she took a sip of some cold and bitter coffee. 'Why would they have an assassination operation in a classroom full of students? Why not find a more remote location?'

And most of all…

" _I received a complaint today from the D class teacher; 'A student from E-class glared at one of my students and threatened to kill him.'"_

" _I'm sure the glare is part and parcel of the whole assassination thing. And that's fine." Gakuho said calmly_

Why did she have the suspicion that the E-class students were personally involved in this assassination? And what exactly did Asano Gakuho have to gain by allowing this? Aria wanted answers and she had thought about confronting Nagisa about it but then she'd be admitting to having gone up to the mountains to his class.

Aria threw herself on her back and turned on her side, a stack of school books with written notes all pilled together in the corner, "And I thought mid-terms was going to be the highlight of my month."

* * *

The next morning Aria was even more exhausted than before, despite the temptation to skip school she had a feeling that there would be a search for whoever had gone up to the E class campus and if she stayed at home she was sure to bring up some red flags; Gakuho had sharp instincts and Aria knew that he'd be looking her way-as well as in the direction of every girl with black hair. To narrow down the search he would probably be looking for a girl with shoulder length black hair and an athletic background (if he wanted to narrow it down further). Aria's plan was to behave naturally at school; while still keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

Unfortunately the moment Aria set foot on campus she was confronted-not by the Principal but by three familiar figures. Aria's lips curved into an empty smile as she waved at them.

"Good morning."

"So Aria, about yesterday..." Mina began, her voice strained as if she was still deciding whether or not she was going to beat around the bush or run through it.

"Oh yes, I said you're free to lecture me another time." Aria said nodding, arms crossed. "About a topic I wouldn't dwell on."

The girls glanced between each other looking rather uncomfortable now; Aria's smile was obviously off putting. Aria's sense was to always smile even in hostile situations to keep the next person cautious with their actions and words, but the people she was talking to were teenagers and they didn't seem to filter anything.

"We-well" Akane began before hardening her gaze on Aria "To put it bluntly, you cannot be friend with that E-class scum!"

"Let me guess." Aria interjected, she put her hand on her cheek as she spoke "The way you're saying it tells me you think I don't have a choice in the matter because of our schools teachings despite that there isn't any rule against me being friends with someone from the E-class it's just looked down upon. You wouldn't worry about this if it were coming from another student in another class but because I'm from the A-class and we must set an example for the rest."

"R-RIGHT!" Mina said quickly "That's exactly what we mean so you understand don't you?"

"Of course I understand," Aria said brightly "You're worried that if everyone knows I'm friends with an E-class student, they're going to look down on me and in turn-my associates, being you three."

The girls looked at Aria stunned that she had put it in such a manner, though it was true they had attempted to hide this fact.

"Basically, you're saying either I'm with them or with you."

"E-Exactly!" Akane said strongly "We are above them Aria and we are only saying this as your friends-

"I understand." Aria said gathering her lunch and standing up "That's why I won't bother to waste your breath anymore."

"HUH!?" the three girls looked at Aria who bowed to them

"You no longer have to waste your time trying to convince me to stop being friends with Nagisa because we're no longer friends."

Mina frowned at her "So you're choosing that trash over us!?"

"You're one of us Aria!" Subaru cried, spreading her arms out.

Aria chuckled softly "Of course I'm one of you, I'm still in the A-class after all but you'd rather not deal with the slander I'm sure to receive after being seen with Nagisa."

Akane glared at Aria "So that's it huh? You're siding with them?"

"It's not a war, the system of this school has just created a mind-set you've all had programmed into you in order to be the best, I just don't need it like you do. So rather than having this constant friction between us, it'd be best if we went to being just classmates since we'll all have nothing more to gain by being friends."

"Aria..." Subaru trailed softly.

The dark haired girl held her smile as she waved, "I'll see you in class."

"Don't walk away from us Aria! You're going to regret it!" she heard Akane call to her but she did not turn around to give her the satisfaction of believing her threat meant anything to her.

* * *

"Alright class, as you know we are two days away from your mid-terms and I'm sure you're all very prepared, however the Principal has announced that today we will be changing the scope of your exams this term."  
There was not a mumbled or murmur of complaint, something many would actually expect; but not from this class. Principal Asano walked through the class door after giving a light tap to indicate his appearance, behind him was a man carrying a camera and some wires.

"Good morning class, as you have heard there will be a change in the scope of this mid-terms exams and under our policy in preparation for cramming I shall be giving today's lectures on how we will change things. It is imperative that you pay close attention."

Aria did not take her eyes off of Gakuho after he walked in, it was only yesterday she had seen him on the E-class campus and she was expecting him to appear a bit more out of sorts but the only unusual thing happening was that he suddenly decided to change the scope of the exams. She thought for sure there would have at least been an alert about someone sneaking into the satellite campus, that way they may be able to get information on who it was. Aria didn't really mind that he didn't alert the rest of the school though. When Gakuho's eyes trailed around the classroom and landed on Aria, she maintained a neutral expression. She did not want to give away anything obvious; especially when she was certain the slightest twitch would set this man's sense off. He was sharp.

"Alright now let's begin." Asano turned back around to start writing on the board, the lessons that were going on were being fed through a camera to the rest of the classes. It was in those few short hours that everyone went mute, the only voice in the whole school being Gakuho and it was just another enlightening moment for Aria. As she sat through that class, taking notes, listening to the lectures, her mind barely had the chance to wonder elsewhere and it really wanted to. She wanted to find out more about the teachers in the E-class, she wanted to know exactly what was going on with details. Usually as this no longer had anything to do with her identity being in danger, she could have been able to leave things as they were. If it wasn't for everything else she had overheard. As Aria stared down at her page she scratched the back of her head, this was what it meant to be mind-boggled?

Just then the perfect sync of pens scratching on paper and Principal Gakuho's voice ceased as a musical tone interrupted the entire order. Aria immediately straightened up, recognising the music as the main theme song for Sonic Ninja. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her flip phone, seeing the contact screen blur Akane's name before switching it off completely.

"Aria-san." Gakuho called her without even turning around. "You are not permitted to have your cell phone in class, I am going to have to confiscate it."

Aria wanted to roll her eyes, so was this what Akane meant by she would regret it? They were going to start pranking her, getting her into trouble? This was all unnecessary and personally a hassle she was not in the mood for. Without response Aria walked to the front of the class and put her cell phone on the desk before going back to her seat.

There were a few snickers around her, but Aria was far from embarrassed.

'I have endured far worse.'

"That includes you; Tomichika-san,"

Akane's smiling face immediately turned to shock, she looked back to the Principal in disbelief "Um, Principal I don't-

"You should know better than to be playing pranks right now, place your cell phone on the desk immediately please. You and Aria-san will receive them after mid-terms."

It was difficult not to further inflate the bubble of satisfaction by smiling back at Akane, who Aria knew was glaring viciously at her now. She doubted that this would be all that was pitched at her, she had said that she was no longer friends with them-suppose that now Aria would be considered an enemy. People never really did take well to being dumped.

'Suppose this is my version of the ex-girlfriends vice.'

* * *

"Aria-san, can I have a word with you?" Gakushu called as the final bell rang for the end of class and everyone poured out, including the principle.

Aria stepped away from her desk and over to him. Once they were completely alone Gakushu spoke, addressing her in the same tone as he did to everyone, to make sure they never looked passed his words to find the truth and therefore had no choice but to accept them.

"Were you able to follow the lessons so far?" he first asked.

Aria nodded quickly, "Yes."

Gakushu nodded, though he did not appear satisfied with her answer. It was as if he wanted her to tell him she was in fact struggling with this sudden change in the scope. He had not even bothered to mention what had taken place with her and Akane-not that she could have cared to hide anything about that. There was much more pressing concerns.

"With midterms tomorrow and this change, the A-class will be having a last minute cram session today."

Aria kept on her smile, though it felt especially forced as her patience was close to running on empty. "Okay, that's good to hear."

With everything that had happened only a few hours ago, Aria was not in the best condition to go head to head with Asano like she usually was. She was about to walk passed him when he moved to stand in front of her, effectively blocking her means of escape.

"Asano-san-

"Forgive me; I thought you would understand my implication."

"Which would be?" Aria asked, now weary, she took a faint step back. For a girl who had no boundaries when it came to others, she certainly did not appreciate Gakushu invading hers right now.

He leaned closer towards her face, a smile with a dark twist, Aria felt like backing away even further than a step. "Let's do our best to crush these exams together as a class."

"I look forward to it Asano-san but unfortunately I won't be attending this final study sessions, as I don't believe I need them."

She left quickly before Gakushu could question her on why exactly she wouldn't be able to attend and he luckily didn't call after her but she missed the devious expression on his face as he watched her leave-otherwise she might have known that Gakushu had inherited more from his father than his face and that even in this particular time, where she was focused more on finding out what dark secrets were hiding within the confines of this prestigious school; she might have remembered that principal Gakuho was not the only one she needed to be cautious of.

* * *

With her lack of companions in the main campus and current state of mind, Aria decided it would be better to keep distances for now. She sat on the large open field, where she would still be seen and blend in. It was more suspicious to be hiding, because it raised the question-what do you have to hide? So she maintained her image, but how much longer that was going to last was something she needed to answer for herself. Aria knew that if she continued to look for answers, the consequence of being discovered-especially considering who was involved, might not be worth it.

'On the other hand I have a burning desire to know exactly what is happening in that classroom.'

Taking her last bite from her sugary pastry, Arai lied on her back with her head starring up at the sky, there were plenty of grey clouds in the sky but none of them threatened to burst yet and there was still a warmth in the air. It made you think the sun was incognito. This had Aria closing her eyes, allowing a brief period of sleep.

 _There was hardly a time when anyone could consider a certain age a kind one but for Aria, at the age of seven it was definitely one of her favourites, for she was able to read many things by then, not just the single words under the single picture anymore but actual books and every time she read something new, she would find something to question._

 _Tiny feet patted along the wooden floors, taking a steep turn before stepping onto a plush red carpet set in the centre of the room, avoiding the furniture, the fast figure jumped and landed flat against another that was innocently relaxing on the carpet. A loud 'oof' was heard on impact and a cheerful giggle._

" _Ariana! Don't just jump me like that, you're going to break my spine!"_

 _That remark had come from a young boy, no older than her, his dark hair mirrored her own, his eyes as well, a shining crystal blue._

" _I'm sorry…" the young girl cried, though she didn't seem as concerned, rolling onto the floor, clutching a book in her arms, she placed it down like a precious piece of glass and began paging through until she reached nearly the centre._

" _Neh, what's a pa-pan-pa-pand-or-aaas box?"_

 _The boy quirked an eyebrow at the girl "You mean a Pandora's box?"_

 _She nodded vigorously, whenever she had questions about the content of her books she would always come to him and expect an answer and since she refused to put a book down until she was finished with it, he had to always have an answer to her questions._

" _Well it's when something happens that causes more problems," he explained, holding out his finger_

" _But why do they say that?"_

 _Of course she would have a question to follow a question-it was a punishing routine that he could not deny, at least not when he saw those big eyes blinking._

" _Well there is actually a story about it. Basically a women was given a box, she was told not to open but she did not listen. When she opened it all of the bad things in this world now, came out of that box."_

 _There was a soft gasp, "Why did she do that?"_

 _The boy shrugged, "I think it's because she was curious and she couldn't help herself from wanting to know what was in it-she kinds of reminds me of you."_

 _That was a mistake soon recognised because, the young Aria began to sniffle and then wailing loudly._

" _S-So I'm bad?"_

 _The boy quickly shot up, shaking his hands around in a panic, "No-no, I just meant you were both curious!"_

" _But she let out all of the bad things in the world!" Aria cried, "That means she's bad too right? I don't want to be bad!"_

 _He slapped his forehead, realising that this was not something he wanted her to report to anyone or else he was going to be the one in trouble._

" _You didn't let me finish the story!" he said, removing her hands from her face, she sniffled a few times but quieted down as she always did when she heard the word story. "After all the bad things escaped, there was something else in the box but the women closed it before it could get out know what that thing was?"_

 _Obviously Aria shook her head._

" _Hope," he told her, puffing out his tiny chest. "The women opened the box again and hope flew out of it this time to help with all the bad things. If she wasn't still curious she would have left that box closed and then there would be nothing to stop all of the bad things in the world."_

 _Aria visibly relaxed, taking in every word of the story._

" _So you see, curiosity isn't always a bad thing. Otherwise that women wouldn't have freed hope and you wouldn't be so smart Ariana!"_

 _At the compliment and confidence boost, she couldn't help but beam back at the boy full force._

" _So you see, it's good to give into your curiosity, you never know what you're going to find!"_

 _The boy's voice then softened, along with his face as he patted the girl on her head, as he often did when she was upset._

" _Feel better now?"_

 _She nodded, "Mmm! Thank you nii-nii!"_

When Aria awoke she shot immediately into a sitting position, her mind and body were uncoordinated with one another as she looked around without taking in her surroundings and then putting a hand over her head rethinking her dream clearly. Usually dreams were something easily forgotten, the details of a dream drift away after a few short moments after waking up. Aria wished that would be her case but unfortunately a dream that bases off a memory was not easy to forget.

'That was the last year….' Aria shook her head, her face contorted in disdain.

Not wanting to dwell on something she believed better packed in the far corner of her mind, Aria stood up grabbing her bag and made her way to the school building but just as she was close to the entrance something stopped her in her tracks-a huge gust of wind that blew across the entire school, it's sudden appearance had everyone stop what they were doing, at first only a few leaves were rustled on the tree's and then everyone was clutching their papers and books in hand to avoid losing them. Aria gripped her skirt before running to the front of the building hearing a few students screaming.

"There's a huge tornado at the E-class's mountain!"

She saw a large whirl of dust, moving viciously but remained stationary at the same time, and if she remembered correctly that would be very close to the E-class campus if not right on top of it. She joined the crowd of students that were gathered together looking at it. Aria's eyes fell on the principal who was there as well, he was looking at it with a knowing expression, a smirk on his face.

Aria narrowed her eyes, without a doubt this wasn't a natural phenomenon-Gakuho had confirmed that.

'What is going on over there?' she asked herself but it wasn't soon after she had thought the question that the wind grew gentle again, until it was nothing more than a light breeze, the trees were no longer threatening to escape from the ground, skirts were no longer ready to turn inside out and the cries of alarm were killed as the tornado vanished. But there were replacements of mutters about the strange weather for the rest of the day. Aria on the other hand was not only focused on the weather-rather what she thought to be the cause as circumstances were far too coincidental.

* * *

Nothing spiked anxiety for a student more than being called to the principal's office and having no reason for being called-or even worse, having a reason you hoped not to be called on. Aria felt that that would be the initial reaction of any normal student, guilty of something they hoped to get away with, however Aria was another case. After the last class taught by principal Asano, there had been an announcement, calling Aria to his office. There was only one real relevant reason for her being called into the office, but she chose rather to keep on the belief that she was innocent until actually proven guilty-although on the other hand the person who may confront her was not someone easily trifled with. She stepped into the office, as empty as she remembered, giving focus to the desk and the person sitting behind it.

"Aria-san," Gakuho greeted her, gesturing for her to enter, the door closing behind her with a soft click. Aria walked until she stood in front of the desk.

"Principal Asano," Aria greeted bowing her head.

"Aria-san, do you know why I have called you in?"

Hands at her side, Aria's eyes dared not give anything away-the advantage to having eyes like hers.

"No sir, I do not."

The answer, oddly enough seemed to be exactly what Gakuho wanted her to say, but Aria knew it was going to take more than that to catch her out. She wouldn't reveal anything on her face, her body language just as well. That is how she was trained and habits like this were not easy to kick. If Gakuho was suspicious of her entering the satellite campus he wouldn't be able to outright accuse her without evidence.

'However,' Aria thought 'Given the number of students at this school, the list of suspects that should be given-yet he only calls on me….'

Perhaps there was more reason to worry.

"I just wanted to know if you were able to follow today's lessons."

Nodding quickly, Aria felt that that wasn't' the real reason behind her being called in, but she knew that as long as there was no mention of yesterday's events, there was no need to fire any alarms. "Yes sir, you lecture really helped me understand the change in the scope of the subjects. Honestly I am looking forward to these exams."

The light chuckle that came from principal Asano was spine chilling, "That is good. I must admit I am concerned. Being in the A-class, being on top, it can be a lot of pressure."

Aria's fingers twitched, her smile nearly wavered. "Of course, everyone assumes that once you are on top there is nowhere else to go; however the reality is that once you are on top there are many who will want to bring you down. Take any monarch for example, they have always been met with resistance throughout history."

Leaning back in his dark leather chair, legs crossed and arms folded Gakuho continued, "And what happened to those after they have fallen?"

"Usually…" Aria tilted her head to the side, her hair tickling the side of her neck. "They lose their heads."

"Yes, now imagine something of the same calibre happening in this school." Gakuho explained. "When you are right on top, you are standing on a fine line. It is frail and hard to balance on, most who don't have what it takes will fall to the bottom and have to resume the climb to power once again, brittle and broken."

Appearing to be deciphering what Gakuho was telling her, Aria closed her eyes to look in thought but there wasn't really a need to give any thought at all.

"I understand Aria-san; that you're close to a student from E-class."

It was not a question but a statement, with truth and fact that gave no room for arguing; and if you tried, you would probably lose.

"Yes, I have a friend that's in E-class." Aria stated back.

There was a shift in Gakuho, subtle but Aria did not miss it, he was after something and he was not going to let her leave until he was satisfied.

"Did you know Aria-san; that those on top, often have their power taken away by those closest to them and the ones who grasp for power; tend to be the ones who have had none."

Aria shifted her weight onto her right, "Sir, I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Sometimes, a friend is just an enemy in disguise." Gakuho said, "You should remember that, as positions have more control on individuality."

Aria nodded, but then with a bright smile she spoke "And sometimes an enemy doesn't exist until you're looking for them."

It was obvious that Gakuho did not appreciate Aria's blatant ignorance of what he was attempting to drill into her, but she knew that this was just a matter of one thing, control. Something this man was obviously use to having, however she was not like the others; who could fall so easily for simplistically honest charms with hidden motives.

"I suppose-oh yes I wanted to ask have you been participating in any clubs or activities? It is important to excel on the outside of the classroom as well." Gakuho said, appearing to have completely forgotten the previous topic, but there was a lingering of its effects.

"No." Aria replied, turning around after bowing "If that is all sir,"

As she twisted the doorknob, fully aware of Gakuho's eyes fixated on her back he spoke. "I believe there is space on the girls-basketball team and the soccer team or perhaps…..gymnastics team."

Aria paused only for an instant before she remembered to maintain appearance; the reason Gakuho would say that would only be clear to her if she was guilty of trespassing on the satellite campus. Turning around, Aria kept her smile, eyes closed.

"I suppose, but I'm not very flexible."

* * *

Aria did not catch Nagisa on the train and without her cell phone she was unable to contact him, there weren't many students who actually left school because they were staying in order to study, that would be a fair explanation for Nagisa as well since exams were tomorrow. Aria, on the other hand still needed to work to make a living and exams weren't going to take priority like they did for the average student. She studied and she worked, and if that's what it took to maintain her current life, then that was fine with her.

'But I did not count on the concept of assassination to follow me into my new life.'

Ritsu wiped her forehead after placing a tray on the counter, as she rushed around to get her next order, she usually served whoever complained the least so that they wouldn't stop her from working to tell her their grievances. "Man we're swamped today!"

Looking back at her friend expecting a comment Ritsu was surprised to find Aria, once again in a daze. She had the exact same expression on her face since she came in to work today and it was very unusual given the girls typical smiling demeanour. She had been brewing the same cup of coffee for the past five minutes.

"Um, earth to Aria." Ritsu called waving her hand in front of the girls face causing her to blink and looked at her questioningly.

"What are you doing?"

"You're totally spaced, are you feeling okay?" Ritsu asked, leaning against the counter "Is it you're midterms? I told you to ask for a few days off!"

Aria let out a soft sigh but shook her head to clarify it was not the midterms that were the source of her peculiar behaviour. "I've got something disturbing on my mind."

"What is it?"

"Just something," Aria replied before walking away, proceeding to wait on the other customers. Of courses there was no other way to put her situation into words.

"Don't you want to ask the manager if you can head on home now?" Ritsu asked, genuinely worried.

Aria shook her head, "We're nearly done for today anyway." And she did not want to be alone with her thoughts more than she needed.

There were red flags drawing all around her but the fact was; there needn't be a reason for Aria to be this concerned because she was yet to arrive at any of them. And yet there was that simple urge to know. That curiosity that promised chaos, a temptation that even she couldn't resist. She wanted to put her life as an assassin behind, she no longer had a reason for it-not anymore. In fact after hearing the very mention of assassination, she should have turned a blind eye (no pun intended) and went on with her life, since it only seemed to focus on the E-class.

'So why can't I shake this?' She thought as she placed down some milkshakes in front of her customer's, ignoring their empty thank you and moving onto the next table.

"Hello, what can I get you?" Aria asked as she reached the table, already digging in her apron pocket to get out her notebook and pen, jotting down the table number.

"I haven't been here before, what do you recommend, Aria-san?"

The voice had a sinister finish, Aria's hand froze. Her blank eyes trailed down to the strawberry blonde boy sitting at the table, with his phone in his hand pointed directly at her.

"Asano…." Aria trailed, realising her predicament could not have been worse-in conditions or timing. It was strange that, he of all people was the one to discover her secret. Something began running through her mind, everything clicked into place. That so called study session-it never happened, Gakushu had meant to follow her all along. How long this suspicion had been there is what made her wonder. 'This guy…..is what you'd call scary.'

"Well, well Aria-san." Gakushu began in a slow drawl, putting his phone down on the table and Aria realised that he had already gotten footage of her, how much depended on how long he was there. "It seems my intuition was correct, I had a feeling you were hiding something."

Aria narrowed her eyes, "So you decided to follow me? I did not think you were that kind of person Asano-san."

Gakushu did not bat an eyelash at her, "And I did not think you were the kind of person to disregard the rules so blatantly Aria-san. You are aware that having a part time job is prohibited by our school?"

Scoffing softly, Aria folded her arms below her chest, "I am. Although we have a policy here as well, if you want to stay you have to buy something."

"I already asked what you would recommend." Gakushu said smiling in a way that irritated Aria.

"I'd personally recommend you leave right now-but I know that's not what you really meant." Aria quickly wrote something down on in her notebook and went to the back to the kitchen to place the order. Ignoring the rest of her customers calls to wait on Asano's order and at the same time, figure out how she was going to get out of this situation with minimal damage. The unfortunate fact was, she wasn't the one holding the cards. This was one sided no matter how anyone looked at it, including her. Putting on their roles as student's, with one breaking the rules and the other rightfully reporting it in; she would always be in the wrong and the end results….

A light tinkle and someone calling 'pick up' got Aria moving again but her thoughts still there. When she returned to the table, she had somehow hoped that Gakushu would be gone, even if it wouldn't make a difference. She would be a bit more at ease not seeing the threat right in front of her, facing without any idea how to get rid of it. This was what Aria hated the most, having a problem placed in front of her and not knowing how to solve it.

"This is the special of the week, mocha cake and a strawberry crème shake." Aria said blankly, placing the plate and cup in front of Gakushu she drew back. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

It was the store's policy for waiters and waitresses to ask that question, however in this case it was working as a double meaning, pertaining to more than just Aria's position as a waitress.

Slicing the cake with his fork and putting the first bite in his mouth, Gakushu turned back to Aria who was waiting patiently for him to talk. She was even ignoring the calls of the other customers that had been seated and were still waiting for someone to get their orders.

"You seem pretty busy right now, why don't you go and tend to your other customers and come back with the check when I'm finished."

Aria knew that was not a suggestion, so with a final heated glare, she left the table's side to do her job-it may be the last time she got the chance to do it. Time seemed to speed up, bringing her closer to a situation she did not want to confront. While she worked, she did not turn to look at Gakushu's table. The minutes went by too quickly, no matter how many tables she attempted to occupy herself with, it seemed that Gakuho was leaps ahead of her as he called for the check right after she finished serving her last table.

The few minutes away, had given her a chance to calm her nerves-not by much though. Gakushu, did not give away any sign to his true intentions as he paid.

* * *

"Aria." Ritsu called her, unaware of the situation. "Quitting time."

That seemed sadly ironic because it may very well be, Aria did not look behind her as she left to change out of her uniform.

When Aria came out of the café, school uniform on and school bag in hand; not the least bit surprised to see Asano leaning against a car. He opened the door for her.

"Ladies first."

Knowing that Gakushu would have a counter if she refused, Aria walked passed him and slid into the back seat of the car, the driver in front did not turn his head back, strikes her as the 'shy' type. The kind that you could speak around as casually as you would furniture without worry about your words travelling.

When the door closed, the car immediately drove in the direction of the train station.

'Plus side, he doesn't know where I live.'

"Well Asano-san, what do you plan to do with this new information you have on me?" Aria asked without a moment's hesitance, it was worse to guess the answer when you had the opportunity to get it straight up. People hesitated for reasons Aria found ridiculous.

"Well Aria-san, what do you think I am going to do?"

She gave him a pointed look, hands on her knees she leaned forward. "If I knew the answer I wouldn't have asked the question. The first would be, you're going to tell your father about me which will result in retribution but if it were that simple, you wouldn't have taken the time to sit down and taunt me."

Gakushu, gave an expression that mirrored shock, yet like a mirror, it did not show the real image-nothing more than reflecting what was on the surface.

"Taunt you? Of course not Aria-san, I was just a regular customer in there."

"A regular customer…and now what are you?" she asked leaning back in the leather seat.

Gakushu held up his hand, "Well as of now I am a classmate that has discovered you are in violation of one of our school rules. What should follow from here is, I report you and you receive the proper punishment."

"So why didn't you?"

"I must admit seeing you distraught is interesting, I haven't seen many faces from you-it's intriguing." Gakushu said, a smug smile on his face as he glanced out of the window. He watched the outside for a while before turning back to Aria.

"I prefer to smile, however it seems there are a lot of people who prefer it taken away."

There was no vice in her tone, just raw honesty. She knew that there was no way for her to benefit from this, no matter what kind of face she put on, the end result would be just the same. It was better to remain calm and listen carefully to understand his intentions.

"Aria-san, you are already aware that the A-class have high standards to maintain." Gakushu began, looking back to her. "Not just in terms of grades but upholding the standards of the school. You have been endangering the class's reputation, first by associating with a student from the E-class, taking preference over your own classmates and now this."

A hand fell on her shoulder, gripping her gently but there was a suffocation that accompanied it. Gakushu looked at her with what appeared to be compassion, but she already knew what was behind it. "Aria-san, you are still a student of the A-class, therefore I am willing to overlook this indiscretion of yours so long as you swear it won't happen again. Allow me to lead you back down the right path before you go any deeper on the road of no return."

The meaning behind his words were fairly easy to figure out, she could not be friends with Nagisa anymore, she had to quit her job because even after if Asano mentioned this to his father, she would be punished AND last of all, she had to do everything Gakushu instructed of her from now on. He wanted absolute control, he already had it over his entire class-except for her and he must have realised that somewhere along the line.

The car came to a stop and they both knew they were at the train station, shifting away from Gakushu. Aria opened the door, relieved he had not decided to keep her locked in until she gave an answer.

"I'll give you till after midterms to decide." Gakushu said as he closed the door.

Aria watched as the car drove away, her fist clenched the strap of her bag a little tighter. 'Dammit.'

 **That's all for now, but I'm already working on the next chapter so it should be posted very soon. In the meantime please review, more reviews usually result in a quicker update.**


	9. Opening Pandora's box

**Hey everyone, I know it's been a really long time since I updated this story, but I finally managed to get the next chapter finished. Hope you enjoy**

When an ex assassin in training, escapes the path of a profession she has been prepared years for, goes to one of the most prestigious junior high schools in the country, ends up in the accelerated class and then discovers that the school's principal is hiding a secret involving the military of defence, an assassin and a creature that looks like a giant yellow octopus; not to mention now being under threat of blackmail; how would said person be expected to react? With an overwhelming pressure getting heavier every passing second, a sword hanging over their head?

Simple, she went back to school, acting as normal as possible and wrote her midterms exams without batting an eyelash.

Aria sat at her assigned desk, far apart from Gakushu as they had been placed in alphabetical order. The midterms did not last very long, they were only a few days, in a prep school it was not an uncommon practice, in order to make sure that students studied long before exams and not the night before by giving them no time to cover all subjects for the next day.

When Aria wrote her math paper, she only picked up on the changes made when she got to the eleventh question. It was commonly heard that students struggled to answer exam questions based on their work because of the way the questions were asked, even if it covered the same content, how it was portrayed was what counted the most in terms of receiving the points. It was only until just recently that Aria had to take exams in an orthodox calibre, Phoenix only sought to teach them what they would need in order to survive as assassins, their way of teaching varied greatly in comparison to regular schools.

'It's not like I haven't studied.' Aria reminded herself, she had been prepping for exams just like any student needed to. The technicality of teaching was still a whole new territory that Aria was exploring.

Math was not a subject she favoured, but she could do it and that was enough. As she looked down at her paper, the sound of pens scrapping across the paper grew. Aria could hear the purpose in the noise, the need to get those points in order to remain in this class, there was a constant competition amongst the students here; excluding the big five-they were the rulers of the class and so long as the hope to out rank them seemed out of reach, no one would oppose them. Gakushu was viewed as what would be considered the 'impossible boss' of a game or battle. Instead of fighting him, they'd rather submit and remain comfortable under the wing that could crush them.

'As expected of the A-class.'

Aria never gave herself to draw on the E-class, it would only bring her to think of that teacher's meeting in the satellite campus and then to Gakuho, which would then lead her to think about his son.

And that was how the rest of her midterms went, she wrote, left her classroom straight away without speaking to anyone and repeated the process until finally her midterms were finished and it was time to give her answer to Gakushu. Apparently miderterm was only really over after your results were given.

She was seated at her desk, as the teacher began opening envelopes with the results of their test scores. Normally there would be an expectance of anxiety in the classroom when test scores were given-but this was where the A-class differed from the rest. They had been the class to get the principal to give them the lecture live, in their classroom which allowed them to ask many questions on queries that any other student may not have even considered asking. Be it last minute or long term, they were thoroughly prepared. Every student had fallen somewhere in the top fifty, including Aria. She looked at her papers, her expression unusually regular before she flipped all of the papers over to cover the scores. She heard the praises coming at the front where Gakushu sat.

"Wow, Asano-kun you got perfect scores in every subject!" she heard Akane gush.

"You're really amazing Asano-kun!"

But along with the praises there were also murmurs about the big five, apparently someone in the E-class had taken third place in the school's ranking, moving the rest of the big fives ranks down by one. Apparently a student in E-class of all, which would explain the grim expression of some of the students.

'This would be what the principal was talking about losing power.' Aria thought leaning against her hand, she peered at Gakushu's back. 'And I have to give my answer.

Akane, Subaru and Mina came up to Aria's desk, their test papers in hand, cynical smiles on their faces.

"Hey Aria, look at this." Akane said, the three girls held up their papers with their test results. Neither had scored below a seventy and they were obviously very pleased with themselves, pleased enough to act like what they held would be enough to deter her.

"Impressive, but of course it was expected right?" Aria replied.

Akane scoffed, hand on her hip "Of course. This puts us in the top twenty."

"And since we showed you our marks, isn't it fair that you tell us yours Aria?" Mina asked, with a scheming glint on her face. Of course it wasn't farfetched to think that a new student would struggle with these tests, despite her progress through the term, previous assignments and tests were nothing compared to the exams where it all boiled down to.

"I don't see how it's fair, since I didn't exactly ask to see your test results," the dark haired girl replied tilting her head to the side.

"Don't worry Aria." Akane said, her hand creeping towards Aria's desk. "One bad grade is nothing to be embarrassed about, after all it's only the first term. Perhaps now you'll know, that associating with those on the lower level will bring you down too."

Aria didn't flinch nor make a move to stop Akane as she grasped Aria's papers and flipped them over.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

English-92

Japanese-97

Math-98

Science-95

Social studies-94

"W-What the….?" Subaru trailed, her eyes wide, the papers in her hand long forgotten.

"This-this is-

"Your results?" asked Akane frowning, "But that means you're ranked-

"Seventh, congratulations Aria-san." Gakushu came up to Aria's desk, barely anyone had noticed until he was right behind them. The murmurs that now came from the classroom were directed at her, most of them ran on the same lines, the source-her marks, good or bad, regardless they were talking about her. "You have a lot of potential, don't worry we will bring it out."

Aria held a smile, something she was finding hard to do lately.

* * *

To her surprise and relief, Gakushu had not confronted her about the decision she needed to make, even though it was passed the deadline. She knew that he had not forgotten about it, anything he did not know, he was yet to learn but once he did, it was done.

'So why is he stalling?' Aria wasn't able to figure out, there was nothing to gain by waiting longer unless of course he wanted to increase her anxiety.

"Um Aria, are you okay?"

Her head turned to the side to look at Nagisa sitting beside her, she smiled at him. "Yes Nagisa, I'm fine."

After midterms they had finally been able to meet once again on the train. The first thing they had done was get their grades out of the way, she had found out by Nagisa that the E-class were the only ones who were not informed of the changes made and therefore their grades suffered dearly because of it. Aria apologised to Nagisa and explained to him that she hadn't been able to call him because her phone had been confiscated right before midterms. That conversation hadn't gone on for very long but since both seemed to be understanding to the right degree, any misunderstandings were cleared up quickly and now they were just enjoying each other's company on their regular train ride.

Aria was still had a lot to think about though, with midterms over, Gakushu Asano's blackmail and the E-class's secrets, it was a wonder how she was able to keep her head on straight.

'With midterms it seems that a student sneaking onto campus was the least of anyone's concerns.'

However, now that it was over what might happen? Would there be a more serious search for the student? If word got out about a strange creature teaching in the E-class.

'That guy….' Aria knew already that she had met that octopus before, once at the convenient store, he had said that he was an E-class teacher. It was obvious.

Aria knew that Nagisa had to be aware of this, but she couldn't confront him on it casually, there was no real casual way to go about something like this and she did not want to make a scene in public.

'I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place.' She laughed softly at the cliché.

"Are you sure you're alright? You're behaving a bit…." Nagisa trailed trying to find the right word for chillingly distant.

"Don't worry Nagisa," Aria reassured, patting his head lightly, "I just have a few things on my mind."

'And sadly, the school trip to Kyoto is not one of them.'

* * *

Aria remained at work a little later than usual, she spent most of her time thinking about how to deal with Gakushu's blackmail and the threat of Gakuho finding out she had gone to the satellite campus. So far her solutions-none. It was frustrating when you were the kind of person who could typically make out any chinks in a plan and create contingency plans in nearly an instant, but this was nothing like assassination where things were more cut and dry. No, this was junior high, a time where everything was unpredictable to a point it was non believable.

Even after work, Aria's mind was swirling. During her walk to the train station, on the train and as she made her way up to the stairs. By then she had come up with a couple of dozen of ideas on what to do but they all had too much risk in them, for instance-refusing Gakushu would result in him telling his father about her part time job, she would not only lose her job and get the café in trouble but she would also get sent to the E-class; however if she agreed to Gakushu's terms, she would have to quit her job and lose Nagisa as a friend, not to mention he would have total control over her by continuing to dangle her secret over her like a sword on a string ready to snap at any moment. Then there was his father, she knew he was keeping an especially close watch on her. Even though Aria was yet to be proven guilty it felt like he already knew it was her. If his intuition was as sharp as his son's (if not sharper) then she was going to be walking on glass till graduation. She also didn't fully understand what was happening in the E-class, or rather why it was happening in the E-class-an assassination in a classroom?

Aria sighed, unlocking her door, 'And I thought the danger would be over after I left Phoenix. Then there's the final solution to my problems….'

As the door gave its traditional creak, Aria went for the lights next to it. In her current state of mind however it had taken but a second too long for her to realise that, she was not alone in her apartment. A second too long before she inhaled the fumes of sleeping gas. She staggered, her vision blurry as she saw two figures-both wearing gas masks approach her steadily. Aria attempted to step back but that was a little difficult to do when you were suddenly hit with a dosage of sleeping gas. She had been trained to hold her breath, but that wouldn't make a difference if she had inhaled once.

Oh crap, was her final thought as she hit the floor, sinking into a state of unconsciousness.

* * *

A familiar feeling Aria felt when she woke up, with her arms and legs attached to a chair with a pair of handcuffs around every wrist and ankle; a dark room with a single light shining down on her. It was just like Phoenix Academy's solitary confinement/torture/interrogation room. She wanted to snicker humourlessly at her predicament. They had been taught how to get out of situations like these but she did not feel like popping her wrist in and out of place.

Footsteps echoed and eventually there were two figures standing in front of her, a women dressed in a grey suit, hair up in a tight bun and a man, middle aged with flecks of grey in his hair, wearing a white lab coat. If this was the interrogation team, Aria was not impressed.

"Ariana Tsukimi," the women addressed her.

Aria tilted her head to the side, cool and collected, "I suppose this is where I ask who you are and where I am."

"That does not matter, we are the ones who ask the questions here." that was a brief way to seal her lips, since they weren't willing to answer any of her questions. "Several days ago, you left your school's main campus and went up to the satellite campus located in the mountains, is that correct?"

Aria looked at the two adults in a manner that would be described as bored. "If you weren't certain of the answer then I'm certain you wouldn't have kidnapped me-which happens to be a serious offence that will result in some form of retribution. Even if the kidnapper happens to someone from the Ministry of Defence."

A single twitch of the hand and sweat drop down the forehead gave Aria clear confirmation for her suspicions. They had found her out, but more than a setback this could be seen as opportunity, so long as she played her cards right. In that short statement however Aria had also made it clear that not only did she know who these people were, but also that she was indeed guilty of what she had been accused of, but so long as they were unaware of who she really was then there was no real threat-after all no matter how deeply you dove into Ariana Tsukimi-Phoenix Academy and number 62 would never appear. Records of her past self was killed straight after she had been admitted.

Snickering softly, Aria craned her neck to the side feeling a painful cramp. "Yes, I snuck onto the satellite campus."

They already knew but they would need confirmation from her themselves, she knew that somehow everything they were saying was being recorded because that was usually interrogation protocol to catch out any lies.

"Why?"

"Because," Aria breathed out, "I was curious that's all."

About the sudden appearance of a professional assassin acting as a teacher, but she felt that information was better left withdrawn.

"And what exactly did you see at the campus?"

"I'm really not enjoying this. Being asked to give answers to questions you already know." Aria stated, "Obviously you would know about what I saw or-again you wouldn't have kidnapped me."

She found it necessary to remind them, exactly what this would be considered and of the red flags that it would draw up all around if she suddenly went missing without a trace. That way, lessoning the degree of danger.

"Alright then, so you saw him…" the women trailed, she then turned back to the man beside her who was yet to speak. They began muttering softly to one another only for a brief moment before returning their gazes on the teenage girl.

"Tsukimi, what you have seen is a strict government secret, a leak would bring about global panic."

Aria raised an eyebrow, she had not known the degree of the situation before the women said that. So this was a government kept secret that would induce world-wide panic….

"And yet you've allowed this strict government secret to be shared by a group of teenagers." Aria pointed out. "I don't see how one more knowing would make a difference….unless of course you have some reassurance that the students of E class will keep this secret to themselves…"

It was obvious that Aria's dead on evaluation was doing nothing in terms of convincing these people to let her leave, yet at the same time Aria was filling in more of the blanks on what was really happening in the E class.

"That doesn't matter, a normal student cannot be allowed to know this information."

That defiantly got her attention and Aria did not hesitate to speak, "By normal; you're referring to a student from the main campus of Kunugigaoka."

Her voice, her expression, along with her overall behaviour to the situation itself had caused an irritation amongst those who were currently interrogating her, as they had given her more information than she offered them, but they finally realised that if this conversation continued then they would be revealing everything to this girl.

"So what's going to happen now?" Aria asked, even though she had a pretty good idea of what usually came next-but this wasn't Phoenix.

"Not to worry," the women gestured with her hand towards Aria and the man in the coat stepped forward, he stood in front of Aria now and spoke, his voice was low and soothing.

"Look into my eyes."

Aria looked up, her silver eyes meeting the man's light brown, unlike Aria's it was easy to make out the features of his eye, defining the iris from his sclera.

One

"Your eyelids are becoming heavy…."

Two

"So heavy they will begin to closer."

Three

"The more you try to open your eyes the limper they become."

Four

"So heavy they refuse to open."

Five.

Aria's eyes fluttered closed, with her posture she stayed up right.

"When I touch your shoulder, you are going to become limp."

A hand gently settled on her shoulder, her entire form instantly went lax leaning back into the air, her hands dangled from the ends of the chair arms they were tied to.

"Ariana, you are now in a deep hypnotic state," the man continued, his voice smooth without a hint of male gruffness. "You did not go up to the satellite campus after school, you went home. You will forget about going up to the E-class, forget about everything you saw there. You went home after school, just as you do every day, you did not go up to the E-class….when I snap my fingers you will have obeyed my instructions and forget….one, two, three, four….five."

Snap!

Aria's head shot up, she opened her eyes; her body stiff once again; the man looked at Aria in close inspection.

"How do you feel Ariana?"

The girl was silent for a few moments, her face appeared blank and then she replied. "I feel like….you just tried to hypnotise me."

The looks on the strangers faces was enough to make Aria giggle, to be an assassin took a certain mind set. It didn't matter about the condition of your body as long as you could lift a weapon or pull a trigger, but it's your mind that needed to be strong. If a Phoenix agent was captured and hypnotised, it would put the entire organisation at risk, they would hide nothing, their minds controlled by another.

However Aria had learned a long time ago to shield your mind from hypnotic suggestions, she did the actions just as she was told but her thoughts had gone something that would hold her focus and draw her away from reality, something that would challenge your mind and keep it occupied. For Aria, it was a problem she was still trying to solve. And in that short amount of time, the answer had finally come to her. A resort she had not considered because it was so unorthodox and what would be considered by most-undesirable taking into account the school's policy.

'To end Gakushu's blackmail, to keep my life as a student….'

"How did this not work?" the man asked, obviously confused as this was the first time his hypnotic tactics had failed.

"It's hard to hypnotise someone when they already predict you're going to do it-and even if you could still hypnotise me when I was aware of what you were doing I wasn't really listening to you-I heard you but I wasn't listening." Aria responded.

The women looked taken back, far back by Aria's statement. Memory wipe was the only solution they had to dealing with a situation like this, it was just one civilian as far as they knew, since there hasn't been news reporters banging on their doors.

"Do it again-

"Won't work." Aria interrupted, "From the get go you need me to stay focused on your eyes, but with my eyes like this you can't tell that I was looking somewhere else the entire time. You think that a dark room would keep my vision focused on what I can see but I have been looking behind you this entire time."

The silence told her that they had not thought of a contingency plan should hypnosis fail, Aria knew that they weren't going to go as far as to dispose of one civilian.

"Listen here, if you tell anyone about this we have grounds to-

"Pointless threats aren't going to work either. The ministry of defence would be going against their own doctrine if they harmed a civilian." Aria intervened once again, it was as if she was slowly tying them up, with no means of escape. Ironic considering she was the one tied to a chair. "And I won't accept any bribes or compensation and you're obviously not going to result to blackmail because if could you would have done it already."

"What do we do now?" the women muttered, she had her back now faced to Aria, giving away that there were other's watching the scene taking place.

Then, there was a sound of a creak only a door would make before a gentle click followed and then, calmed footsteps, the voice Aria recognised immediately as her principals.

"That is enough," Gakuho said entering the space of light "You have interrogated her, your memory wipe methods have failed, release her. Any further action to hold her captive will result in me dealing with you personally."

"Principal Asano." Aria greeted, starring up at him, eyes blinking as if filled with innocence but no surprise or shock-after all they had to figure it out through someone.

"Aria-san, honestly I am surprised. I did not take you for the kind of student who disregards the rules so effortlessly."

Aria didn't take her eyes off of him as she felt the cuffs loosen on her wrists and ankles, they had been tightened to a certain extent, most likely due to how deity they were but still resulting in light red marks around them-whoever put them on had misinterpreted how tight they needed to be.

'It would have been painful to get out of.'

"You knew it was me all along."

Gakuho smiled down at her, "You are very intelligent Aria-san; not many have such a high analytical ability. However you failed to realise that the main campus does have a surveillance system; which places you following after me through the gates, on the path towards the satellite campus."

A single fact that Aria, somehow had overlooked. A shameful mistake. A simple one that resulted in this.

"Yes, I did overlook that." Aria admitted, rubbing her wrists gently. "What is going to happen now?"

"Why don't you tell us Aria-san?" Gakuho suggested.

"Well normally, I'd expect you want to let me go but at the same time you need insurance that I won't tell anyone about what I saw at the campus, for the sake of the Ministry of Defence and for Kunugigaoka. An insurance like what the students of E-class have."

An assassin, a member of the Military of defence and a creature that looks like a giant yellow octopus-of course there had to be something that kept everyone's lips sealed, a real incentive that would give them no reason whatsoever to reveal what was happening up on that mountain, even though Aria was yet to figure out exactly what that was.

Gakuho laughed, "Very perceptive of you, you have taken a seemingly one sided situation and have turned the tables in your favour. But what will you do from here? You have already given away; that you are not interested in bribes and blackmail, which means you believe you have nothing to lose in this situation."

'Well your son's already taken the only obvious source of blackmail.' Aria thought but knew better than to verbalise it. Gakuho's behaviour was something Aria knew to be wary of, he did not strike Aria as someone who took kindly to defeat. If she wasn't a bit more cautious from now on, she may end up regretting everything she had said from the moment she woke up in this place.

"Not exactly, I know I am still cornered here because when I am allowed to leave, I would like to be free of constant security measures and having people sent to watch me in case I step out of line. A global threat usually calls for that level of precaution right?" Aria countered, hands in her lap.

"Indeed." Gakuho said reaching inside of his jacket, there a distinct rustling sound before a single page-clear of any wrinkle appeared, with a clear printed message.

A notice.

"Aria-san from next week, you are hereby transferred to Class 3-E. I trust you know you'll be excluded from the trip to Koyota."

Aria didn't respond, it was one of those moments she knew not to give any reaction. Luckily there didn't seem to be any mind readers around.

'I just opened pandora's box.'

* * *

"Aria-san, you're early that's unusual." Gakushu said, looking down at the dark haired girl who was reading quietly at her desk. When she did not respond, Gakushu tilted his head to the side to read the title of the book. "The Catcher in the Rye, can't say I've read that one yet."

Setting the book down, Aria turned her attention to Gakushu. "Is there something you wanted?"

His smile broadened, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone to place in front of her desk over the book. "Well how about your answer."

She crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair so that she was now eye to eye with the student council president. "The answer, would you mind reminding me Asano?"

Gakushu narrowed his, he immediately felt that something was not right, though she had hidden it well he knew that Aria had been out of sorts trying to figure a way out but now her demeanour was calmed, her smile less forced. Were it anyone else he wouldn't feel so much as a sliver of worry, but Aria was not just anybody.

"It's not like you to need someone to repeat anything," he pointed out

Aria smiled, "I usually don't, but I have a reason for wanting to hear it again."

"I'd rather hear your answer."

Sighing softly, Aria pulled back reaching into her back to pull out a sheet of paper "My answer doesn't matter anymore, because I have this."

A gasp followed after Gakushu took one glance at the paper and instantly realised what it meant. A notice of transfer-to the E-class. He didn't take his eyes off the paper.

"How did-

"It seems you're not the only one in this school with sharp intuition Asano-san." Aria said, a pleasant ring in her tone. "The principal-your father gave me the notice himself."

When she saw the frown on Gakushu's face, he knew clearly that he had lost his only ace against her. What's worse it was to his father of all people.

"This is….."

"Good news right? I won't be here to disrupt the reputation of the A-class anymore and you won't have to waste your efforts on 'bringing me back on the right path' as you put it."

The atmosphere grew with the silence, Gakushu's eyes were closed, his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

"I see, well Aria-san I have to say I am disappointed."

"Of course you'd be Asano, after all; you just lost."

Aria didn't realise that her final words to Gakushu as she left the A-class would linger in his mind.

 **I know this is kinda short but I did write it in less than a day; hope you liked it at least.**

 **Don't forget to review**


	10. The two new transfers: Impressions

**Here's a parting gift I shall be giving before my short leave of fan fiction for my exams, which start next week. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

The life of a junior-high student was always jam packed, especially at Kunugigaoka. Where a week after midterms, there is a two day school trip to Kyoto. After exams it was actually considered a great time for some rest and relaxation, away from regular schooling but that was not going to be the case for Aria. Having been caught by her principal breaking the schools rules and going up to the satellite campus, where she discovered something interesting yet extremely confidential. So much so, that she was interrogated by the Ministry of defence and then after given a notice of transfer to the E-class right after the school trip.

'It's not like I won't have a lot to do here though.' Aria reminded herself.

After midterms, Aria had been confronted by Gakushu Asano about her part-time job-which she was not allowed to have as per the schools conduct. Although Aria managed to get out of being blackmailed, it didn't change the fact that Gakushu now knew where she worked. Obviously she had informed the manager of this development and in order to avoid future problems, Aria decided to resign. She did not take Gakushu for someone who would put on the kid-gloves for any matter. If she was caught there again, it wouldn't just be her on the line but the entire establishment as well. She had been met with some protest-especially from Ritsu, but the situation was understandable.

* * *

" _And so to avoid any further inconveniences for either of us, I am quitting." Aria said, having given a brief, straightforward explanation on why she was resigning to her manager._

" _I understand Aria-chan, I am sorry to hear this but I would be more than happy to write a letter of recommendation for your next employer."_

 _Aria smiled "I would appreciate that very much."_

 _Ritsu charged into the employees changing room, where she saw Aria clearing out her locker and nearly finished as she threw in the last of her things in an old backpack._

" _Aria, is it true you're quitting?"_

 _Aria turned around to face Ritsu, "That's right."_

 _That subtle answer was not enough for Ritsu, who threw her hands in the air "Can you please explain why?"_

 _It wasn't as if Aria didn't see this coming, but she hadn't counted on Ritsu behaving so dramatically. However Aria explained to Ritsu that she was quitting because someone from her school had found out about her job and it would have caused a lot of trouble for the café if she kept working here._

 _Ritsu's expression darkened, a deep frown lining her face "Was it that guy you were talking to a few days ago and went home with? He was wearing your school's uniform but I assumed you were okay with him because of how you were acting and I saw the two of you get in a car together so-_

" _You were watching me." Aria stated raising an eyebrow._

" _To be honest I thought he was your boyfriend." Ritsu admitted, rubbing the back of her head._

" _He is not, he was just a classmate," Aria assured before throwing her bag over her shoulder. "Besides, you can't date till you're eighteen."_

 _Ritsu rolled her eyes, hands on her hips "Who told you that?"_

 _Aria paused, fixing the strap of her bag and turning her head to glance back at the girl._

" _My brother."_

* * *

Aria spent the time she had away from school to focus on finding a new source of income. It was not easy for a junior high student to get a job-especially one that would pay enough to (barely) live on. However, thanks to her manager's recommendations and Ritsu keeping an eye out for any openings for her. The third day she had found a job at another café, a little ways further than the last one and she was going to have to take a different train, but the pay was similar to what she was earning before.

'Good thing or I might've needed to take a second job.' Aria snickered before glancing at the small table in the middle of her room, instead of having the regular ornamental decorations on the table to start conversation, she had scattered weapons.

" _Here are the details," the women said, handing Aria a thin folder. She had been moved from the interrogation room to another. Just as dimly lit as the previous one but a change in furniture, with a comfortable couch rather than a steel chair._

 _The first page of the file was a picture of the tentacle create she had seen at E-class satellite campus (and at the convenience store at one point.). He was holding up a number plate, posing to the camera; taking a mug shot of his own will. Initially the being didn't give a name to put to its smiley face, but the students had named him Koro sensei; a play on words meaning 'un-killable teacher'. An 'unknown' super being, able to move at the speed of Mach 20._

" _That's 24696 kilometres." Aria said to herself. As she read further she found that he had confessed to destroying the moon. It had happened recently, when the moon had been reduced to more than half, its crumbled parts drifting around in space for everyone from earth to see. No one was able to explain this phenomenon, but now Aria knew-along with barely a handful of the world that it was Koro sensei. He claimed that at the end of the year, he would be doing the same to the planet. There was only one page, explaining Korosensei's weakness to a particular substance that they had used to make weapons to use against him but the details about what kind of substance was too vague to analyse it._

 _Aria looked down to the display of green rubber daggers and pink rubber pellets, they wouldn't harm humans but they would work on him, breaking through the cells._

 _Then she went on to the E-class's assignment; one that they could not bring out of the classroom. An assassination assignment, to kill Koro Sensei who was acting as their teacher. If they killed him before the end of the year then they would be rewarded ten billion yen._

 _While things were making sense to Aria now, she still attempted to theorise the reason behind this 'teacher's' motives to allow an assassination. Apparently, the Ministry of Defence weren't certain of his motives either. There was an agreement that while the students were allowed to attempt to assassinate him, he could not harm the students in anyway._

Theorising things for herself, Aria was able to come with scenarios that this being would want to teach and let the students attempt to assassinate him but there were something thing's you couldn't know by simply looking at words on paper. She was going to have to find out for herself. When she analysed something; it was like putting a puzzle together, she just had to look at each piece carefully and figure out where to place them, looking not only at the tiny part of the picture but at the shape and size of the piece itself. However, this was different. It was as if she had been given the pieces belonging to different puzzles.

'Tomorrow.' Aria thought, examining the rubber knife in her hands. She looked out of the window to the battered moon in the sky. She would be joining the E-class. She was going to be part of an assassination class.

* * *

The walk up the mountain was just as long as the first time Aria had gone up there. She had a meeting with the principal that morning, making sure that everything was in order and confirmed. After that, she left for the satellite campus, but had taken her time in getting there so that she wouldn't have to give personal introductions until the formal one in front of the entire class was made by the teacher. It was already a little past eight, which meant that everyone would be in homeroom by now. That was when Aria chose to finally walk up to the small building, planted right in the middle of a clearing on a mountain. Contrasting with its environment.

After entering through a short hallway, Aria now stood in front of a room she had seen from behind a window on the outside. There were several desks crammed in, the small room which was acting as a teacher's room. Sitting on one side of this desk was Irina Jelavic, reading through some files and on the side opposite to Irina was Todaomi Kurasuma, reading through some papers at the desk before turning to stare at the screen of his laptop. Aria remained quiet for the past two minutes while they worked in silence, but knowing that they probably weren't going to notice her for another four, she knocked against the wooden door frame to get their heads to turn in her direction.

Karasuma stood up, "Oh you're finally here. Did you have trouble getting up the mountain?"

"No more trouble than getting down last time I was here." Aria replied smiling. She picked up on Karasama's stiff posture turning even more rigid and Irina's eyes seeming to light up with interest. "Speaking of which…" Aria shuffled through her skirt pocket as she approached Irina, putting an envelope on the desk. "For the dry cleaning."

"That's not necessary-

"The hell it isn't. Those suits aren't cheap!" Irina said, opening the envelope and finding just enough to actually pay for the suit. "You're in the clear kid."

"That's good, I had a feeling we wouldn't be on good terms given how loud you were screaming after falling in that puddle. Irina-sensei."

Karasuma glared at Irina, his left eyebrow twitching. He then gestured for Aria to follow him out of the room. "Alright, then. Let's get you to class before she charges you for the heel she broke as well."

* * *

There was a plate hanging over a door painted 3-E, a large section of windows following the hallway showed the inside of the classroom with several students. She had kept an eye out for Nagisa, but clearly didn't sit near the back which was the only view she was getting from her angle.

"You've already been briefed." Karasuma said, keeping his eyes on her. He was clearly very weary of her. Smart in Aria's opinion. "Also, there is another…transfer student who is already in class."

Aria didn't miss the way Karasuma used the term 'transfer student', so loosely it was as if he was having difficulty maintaining the words. Like it was foreign or mismatched. Perhaps for the situation-the student? It didn't matter. She was more concerned about herself right now. Having to meet her new teacher-not to mention Nagisa was also in this class.

She felt lighter; knowing she would at least be able to see a friend despite the circumstances.

"I understand." Aria replied, holding her school bag in front of her. Karasuma slid open the door and stepped in with Aria waiting out in the doorway. She could see the yellow creature-Koro sensei, standing behind a desk at a blackboard. Just from where she was standing, Aria could confirm that the rumours of the E-class's place of priority for the school was Karasuma had taken a piece of white chalk to write on the board.

"Good morning everyone, as you know there are two new transfers entering today." Karasuma held up his hand and gestured for Aria to enter as he moved to the side so that the students could get a clear view of the black board as well as the names that were written on it.

Aria counted only five steps before she stopped and turned to face the class, her face with the same grin. "Hello, I'm Ariana Tsukimi but I'd prefer if everyone just called me Aria."

Everyone watched her and Aria in turn observed all of the students in the class, in the instant she had taken a look, there were three that caught her attention. At the back, there was a boy with his arms resting behind his head as he appeared utterly uninterested, though his eyes said otherwise-the same boy she met that one night. Then she looked to her right where she saw Nagisa sitting. He was completely speechless, his mouth hanging open but no words coming out. Then there was the large black box that was placed at the back…

"Nice to meet you Aria-san." Koro sensei said, moving over to her. He held out a tentacle towards her.

She continued to smile as she took it without signs of hesitance or problem. "Same to you Koro sensei."

Pointing another tentacle, he gestured to a clear desk at the back. Right in Nagisa's row and only two desks behind the boy. "You can take your seat over there."

Aria nodded before walking towards her seat, passing Nagisa she grinned at him widely. He obviously would have a lot of questions but they weren't going to be answered here and now. When she took her seat, she looked next to her where Karma was sitting. He stared at her, smirked and then turned back to the front.

Karasuma then went on to introduce the other transfer student. Though the transfer student he was addressing this time wasn't actually human. It was an artificial intelligence called the Autonomous Intelligence Fix Artillery. From Norway. The screen on the box showed a girl with lilac hair and red eyes. Koro sensei seemed to find it amusing that a machine was joining the class-ironically enough. Although Aria already figured that the reason this particular student was joining was for the sake of the assassination of the teacher and she was right. The other transfer student was specially equip with weapons to assassinate Koro sensei but because she was a student-under the agreement Koro Sensei had made with the government, he wouldn't be able to harm 'her'. This Fixed Artillery would It was better for her like this. Less attention and expectation would be drawn to her. Would have been more likely if she didn't already know two people in the class.

* * *

Almost Immediately after Koro Sensei started with his first lesson of Modern Literature, Aria saw a paper ball being thrown at her head from the corner of her eye and caught it before then. She unwrapped it to read a rather neat handwriting on the crumpled paper.

 _Didn't think I'd be seeing you again Glass-eyes._

Aria raised an eyebrow at the nickname-though it fairly suited her. Her eyes did appear scarily transparent. She turned to Karma and saw him smirking. He pointed downwards, gesturing for her to reply. Scribbling quickly a message, she sent it back to him, watching as he caught it with one hand. Unwrapping it.

 _I was thinking the same. Especially under strange circumstances again Tomato."_

Aria knew he was finished reading because his face scrunched up at the tomato nickname-it was stuck with her. Karma sent the page back to her.

 _Yeah. It's almost too coincidental. Meeting a weirdo like you again._

It didn't take Aria long to see the angle Karma was playing at. He wanted to know the story behind how she ended up here. She tossed the page back when Koro Sensei turned his back, she took notes while Karma read the note.

 _Not really. It's not as if I counted on running into someone mischievous like you again._

The paper conversation seemed pointless in Aria's perspective, they were literally tossing words at one another. It was impersonal small talk. Although it was an interesting cycle, once it started, neither would know when to stop and would pull at strings to respond to the next person.

While Karma was writing a response, the Autonomous Intelligence Fix Artillery surprised everyone when 'she' brought out four shot guns that appeared from the sides of her box, all on flexible stands and pointed directly at Koro Sensei. She fired with two machine guns and four shot guns. All firing BB's at the same time. Everyone could hear how it hit the back of the wall at incredible speeds, bouncing off and littering the floor full of them. Everyone had ducked their heads down to avoid getting hit by one of these, although it wouldn't kill then at the speed it was going it would definitely bruise them at least. Then there was Koro Sensei who would be hit by this, but his speed kept him from being hit, he was blurring-creating several after images that wouldn't go away because he kept coming back into its place but sometimes in a different pose-though position was more or less the same.

That's what she saw at least.

Aria sat directly next to the Autonomous Intelligence Fix Artillery, so she didn't have to worry about getting hit-although she may require a hearing aid at the end of this year with how loud the firing was.

Karma didn't seem to mind the firing as much as the other students because he threw back the paper to her. Despite the chaos, she proceeded to read the note-as if the classroom didn't sound like a war zone.

 _Planning on stealing my catch again? Though it looks like the digi-girls got the upper hand right now. Really glares out your arrival._

Aria threw the paper back to Karma

 _I didn't steal your catch the first time, it was purely coincidental-just like this. I don't go fishing for delinquents. It's a hassle and it's unnecessary. I don't go looking for trouble and grin at the sight of it-which I'm guessing is the exact opposite of what you do._

"Use of firearms during class is prohibited!" Koro Sensei exclaimed through the noise, but with a smile that outmatch Aria's she couldn't tell anything just from his face now. "Also-Aria, Karma please stop passing notes!"

"Sorry Koro Sensei. You were occupied so we didn't think you'd notice." Aria raised her voice a little to get above the firearms. The students were a little too occupied to make any comments, since they were more concerned about keeping their heads down and not getting shot at the back of it.

"Well I did!"

"How are they passing notes in this war zone!?" someone exclaimed in the front.

Aria caught when Koro Sensei used a piece of chalk to knock back one of the bullets before they hit him. His speed was unlike anything she had seen before. But she could still see him.

At Koro Sensei's mention of a class rule. For a moment, the machine retracted her weapons and appeared on the screen, her expression as blank as a sheet of paper. "I'll be careful." The screen went black again, but the bottom half of the 'body' was reacting now. "Preparing attack. Recalculating trajectory. Correcting angle. Entering auto-evolution phase: 5/28/02."

'She can evolve,' Aria concluded, watching the screen begin streaming green printed words and numbers-codes, like credits from a movie.

Then she noticed another change-one in Koro Sensei's face as he waved a piece of chalk between his tentacles. His face was still yellow, but stripped with green going around it. "Tsk, tsk, will you ever learn?"

A tone that bordered on nothing less of arrogant. He clearly wasn't bashful about his abilities.

'So if that's the case, why teach?' the question may have seemed unrelated, but it didn't make sense to Aria. Why would a super being, who could travel all over the world, doing practically whatever he wanted, worked-as a teacher of all things-for a class of discriminated students? She wanted to know the answer but she doubted she could ask anyone here. They probably thought the same thing and haven't been able to come up with anything.

When the Autonomous Intelligence Fix Artillery, resumed attacking again. She landed a hit this time. Aria saw two BB's flying towards Korosensei, he blocked the first one with the chalk again, but that gave clearway for the second bullet to hit his tentacle. Aria watched as it sunk through and expanded the yellow substance that was Koro Sensei's skin and turn it into a gooey blob on the floor, some also splattered against the board. All because the Autonomous Intelligence Fix Artillery, added a second gun to her attack. She then gave a calculated output, the probability of killing Koro sensei in her following attacks were less that 0.001 percent but calculating her probability of killing Koro Sensei before graduation-marking the end of the year-

"Is more than 90%"

Aria caught the paper Karma had tossed at her again, unfolding it.

 _If you're not hunting like the rest of us. What's your end game?_

Aria sent the page back.

 _I don't have one._

Karma didn't send the paper back after that. The rest of classes went just Modern Literature had, with one of the two new transfer's actively making an effort to put an end to their teacher. She continued to add new guns with her new calculations. Because Koro Sensei had to keep avoiding the thousands of bullets that were seemingly coming at him all at once.

* * *

At lunch time, the entire floor had BB's scattered from every corner of the classroom. Koro Sensei left the room as he couldn't exactly walk around and had asked the class to clear up the mess left by their classmate. Which no one was too happy about but Aria had another matter, which was coming up to her desk now.

"Hey Nagisa!" Aria held up her hand, grinning at the awe struck boy that seemed to be able to process that she was actually here as well-now that he didn't have bullets flying over his head.

"Aria-what are you doing here?"

Resting her chin on her hand, Aria tilted her head. "My curiosity got the better of me, I did something wrong and now I'm here."

"Hey Nagisa, you know her?" a short girl came up to the desk, she had green hair tied in pig tails and hazel eyes. Just like when she first saw Nagisa, Aria though the girl was cute.

"Yeah." Nagisa replied, turning to the girl. "She's a friend."

"Hi, I'm Kaede Kayano, nice to meet you Aria!" The green haired girl stared at Aria and then her eyes lowered and stopped at the centre…of her chest and her face fell. "Or not."

"Is there something wrong with my chest?" Aria asked, noticing where her eyes had landed.

Kayano pointed to her chest, "Wait how old are you?!"

"Fifteen." Aria replied calmly, still smiling at Kayano.

"How!?"

"If you're referring to my chest; I can't say. It might be my diet-or possible genetics." Aria said, looking down at her chest.

"That's so not fair!" Kayano whined, squirming. "I'm jealous."

"Well you're really cute." Aria said back, holding up a finger. "I bet no one's mistaken you for a guy before like me."

"Really?" Kayano asked, stopping her rant.

Nagisa slapped a hand over his forehead; Kayano has always had issues with girls who were…well endowed, but he didn't think that Aria would encourage her by responding to all the ludicrous and quite frankly a little racy questions. Yet Aria remained unfazed. And he didn't even get to ask Aria everything he wanted to!

"That's surprising, so you know Glass-eyes Nagisa." Karma said, walking to the desk, his hands in his pockets.

Kayano turned to Karma, "Glass-eyes?"

"Yeah." Karma pointed to Aria. "Cause she looks blind."

"Karma!" Nagisa exclaimed. First it was Kayano asking Aria questions pertaining to her….assets and now Karma calling her Glass-eyes and the worst part-these were his friends so he would have hoped for them to get along better but first impressions usually said a lot and right now; he didn't like what these impressions were giving so far.

"What?" Karma asked, grinning mischievously.

"What this about glass eyes?" another voice asked.

Two more students came in to gather around Aria's desk. The girl who asked the question was a blonde with small blue eyes. Karma pointed to Aria, jabbing his finger in the air.

"Is the new girl blind?" asked a tall boy with wavy orange-brown hair.

"No." Aria said, shaking her head. "I just look as if I am."

"Nakamura, Maehara, you're being rude." The boy next to them said, he had dark hair slightly spiked from the bottom and pale gold eyes. He gave a warm smile. "Sorry about them Aria-san."

She shook her head, "I wasn't offended. It happens a lot and please just call me Aria."

Nodding, the dark haired boy held out his hand. "I'm Isogai Yuma and this is Nakamura Rio and Maehara Hiroto."

Aria smiled, taking Isogai's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too little lady." Maehara winked at her.

Nakamura placed both hands on Aria's desk and leaned forward, grinning back at her. "So; Korosensei said that you and Karma were passing notes."

Aria shifted her head to Karma, "Tomato passed it first."

There was an array of snickers as Karma clenched his teeth in a threatening grin; which was why everyone was trying not to laugh out loud in case he decided to get them back. Karma was notorious for his mischief and bad behaviour but Aria didn't seem to get the message.

"Tomato?" Nakamura asked, biting her bottom lip as he shoulder shook.

Aria nodded. "We met before."

"How?" asked Maehara, holding a hand over his mouth to hide his smile but his eyes gave him away.

"He tried to fight me." Aria said bluntly.

Karma shrugged, answering before anyone would ask him the annoying stereotype about fighting girls. "I couldn't tell she was a girl-she was cross dressing."

"That was not my intention, that's just how I dress." Aria retorted. Leaning back against the chair. She saw someone go up to the other 'transfer student' and knock on its side.

"Hey you wouldn't happen to come with a vacuum miss Fixed Artillery?"

Of course there was no response.

"I doubt that's the case, unless of course Fixed Artillery also counts cleaning devices." Aria pointed.

A boy with short spike bluish hair and pale blue eyes called over to the group that had gathered around Aria's desk, interrogating her. "Hey are you guys going to help us clean this up?!"

* * *

"So wait, Karma you attacked her?" Nakamura asked, sweeping some of the BB's into a dustpan that Aria was holding, crouched down. Everyone decided to continue their conversation while they helped clear the classroom of BB bullets.

"She beat up some high schooler's." Karma countered, he leaned back in his chair, balancing on the two back ends.

"And you were upset because you wanted to do it yourself, though it's not my fault you were too slow." Aria said and although she didn't mean for it to sound like an insult, Karma took it that way and tried hitting her in the back of the head with a BB, throwing it but she caught it quickly.

"Nice reflexes." Kayano praised, holding out one of the dirt bins so that Aria could toss the BB's in them. Nagisa was sweeping another corner of the room, but could still hear and join in on the conversation.

"Thank you, though it's mainly because he didn't throw very hard-or fast."

Nagisa grimaced, Aria was painting a target on her back for Karma's shenanigans. He was already looking ready to attack her for real. "Aria…"

She looked to Nagisa, smiling. "Yes Nagisa?"

"Oh that's right, you said you knew Nagisa too!" Kayano exclaimed, her face presenting mild curiosity, but looked cute to Aria.

"We took the same train together after school" Aria said, standing up. "Then we started spending time together."

"Nagisa, didn't know you had it in you!" Maehara commented from across the room, whistling which he then got berated for by Isogai.

"Actually Aria," Nagisa interjected, "How exactly did you end up in E-class? You're from the A-class right?"

Everyone stopped, the brooms paused, the BB's stopped rolling around on the floor and the light breeze could he heard entering the classroom through the windows-all for only three seconds.

"SHE'S FROM THE A-CLASS?!"

* * *

Aria had given her explanation to them as bluntly and honestly as possible. That she had just transferred to Kunugigaoka, had initially been placed in the A-class and that it was not her grades that got her sent to the E-class but it was her sneaking onto the satellite campus after the principal because she was curious about the class Nagisa came from (it wasn't a total lie).

"So they caught you on the grounds?" asked Sugino Tomohito; the boy who had called the group to help with the cleaning. The class had managed to clear up all of the BB's and after, they went outside to gather in a circle on the clear field in the mountains-which Aria found really captivating. The satellite campus was nowhere near luxurious in comparison to the main campus and while main campus did have beautiful gardens and flower beds, they were all man-made. She found a natural environment to be her preference to charm. It was Nagisa, Karma, Kayano, Isogai, Maehara, Sugino, Nakamura and two other girls that had joined in on the conversation. Manami Okuda, a girl with short pigtailed braids and rimmed glasses that covered dark purple eyes and Yukiko Kanzaki, a girl with long straight black hair (different front Aria's wavy black hair) and light brown eyes.

"I wasn't exactly caught 'on' the grounds." Aria bit into her jam bread, a smug appearing in the corner of her mouth which she didn't bother to wipe away as she continued to explain to the group. "Actually, I ran but Karasuma sensei and Irina sensei chased after me."

"We call her Bitch sensei, Glass-eyes" Karma corrected, taking a sip of strawberry yogurt.

Aria made everyone laugh when she told them she already paid for Irina's dry cleaning since the seductive assassin had a face plant in a giant mud puddle while chasing after Aria. "I was already a few meters away but I could still hear her screaming."

Nagisa leaned forward, his legs crossed like most of the group. "So did Karasuma sensei catch you?"

"No, actually-

Karasuma and Irina watched the students on the field, chatting together in their circle. Although there were a number of them, the main focus was clear, all eyes were on Aria when they talked.

"She seems to be getting along with everyone." Irina commented crossing her arms. "It's a bit strange; the first impression I got from the kid was completely the opposite. She talks too brashly."

"I don't think it's careless, it's more like bluntly." Karasuma said back. He had watched and listened to the interrogation video they had of Ariana Tsukimi when she had been taken in. Her behaviour in the situation was calm, too calm for someone who had been sedated and 'kidnapped' and then interrogated. She wouldn't succumb to the mind wiping process as they had hoped and the way she spoke to them-it was like she already knew what to expect, what would come next. She had predicted no actual harm would come to her. She basically toyed with them, unintimidated and it didn't look like she was faking it either. Then there was the matter of her speed and parkour skills; she could back it with a gymnastic or athletic background and they had done a thorough back ground check on the girl. She was clean. A normal girl. Only matter was that she lived on her own, but it wasn't that unusual.

So why his gut telling him something was off with this girl?

Koro Sensei materialised behind the other two teachers and they knew because they could feel the after wind brush against their backs. "While I know she's knew. She has given no signs of wanting to assassinate me."

"What are you talking about stupid octopus?" Irina hissed, getting out a rubber knife from her back pocket.

"She doesn't have any bloodlust."

* * *

"Wait, so the Ministry of Defence actually took you from your home and interrogated you!?" Isogai asked, mimicking most of the group gaping at her now.

"Sedatives…" Karma murmured before looking at Okuda, "You could make those right?"

"Y-Yes, if I had the right chemicals." Okuda replied, not bothering to ask what Karma's motive would be to use sedatives. Though Nagisa had a pretty good idea with that wide grin Karma was giving Aria. He sure hoped she wouldn't call Karma, Tomato anymore or he might actually act on his dark thoughts.

"No!" Sugino exclaimed, waiving his hands around. "Don't do it Okuda. Karma and sedatives cannot ever give a good reaction together!"

Nakamura was lying flat on her stomach on the ground, peering up to Aria. "Then what happened?!"

Aria told them that she woke up, handcuffed to a chair, interrogated on what she knew. She was asked why she didn't tell anyone about seeing Koro Sensei before.

"I didn't really think about publicising this, although I became more curious since he was at the satellite campus and Nagisa was here too."

Nagisa rubbed the back of his head, it was a world-wide secret where only a select were aware of Koro Sensei's existence so of course he couldn't tell her and she understood that.

At the end of lunch Aria had disclosed to the group about how she ended up in E-class, keeping out the details of what she deemed unnecessary information.

* * *

The brief lunch break and gathering had given the group some peace from the mechanised transfer student, so much that they seemed to be taken by surprise all over again when she started attacking Koro sensei during every single lesson period for the rest of the day. And at the end of it, they had to clean up all of the BB's before going home. So no lessons were able to take place.

However despite this, there were several complaints from the students who were unhappy about not being able to work. The atmosphere around them was different from the A-class, there wasn't a tension between everyone when they spoke to one another-a motive to dominate the other.

* * *

At the end of the day, Aria walked down the mountains with Nagisa and Karma. Unfortunately for Nagisa he ended up walking in the middle between the two while they bickered all the way to the train station. Aria now had to take a different train to get to work, so she had separated from Nagisa and Karma. Sitting on her own, she took the time to read. When she got off of the train, she followed direction drawn for her on a map. Ritsu had helped her get another job through a friend of hers who knew a place where she would be able to apply as a waitress. Apparently her friend's brother worked there and he was in junior high as well. Ritsu had given her the forms to fill out and after, she handed them back and waited for her response. Thankfully, she was accepted.

KUNIGI-KAZE was printed on a sign outside of a café with small windows lining around the building. When Aria entered, taking a turn, seeing several booths set up all around, with fern bushes set on top acting as a barrier, separating the booths. It was bigger than her previous work space, her shift would be longer but the pay was slightly increased so she didn't mind. Even if it was also a little further away from home-but the same went for school.

"Welcome," Aria's eyes widened slightly when she saw a familiar boy, dressed in a waiters uniform, black pants, white button up shirt with a black vest over and an apron around his waist.

"Isogai, you work here too?"

Isogai nearly dropped his tray when he met Aria's pale eyes-there was only person he knew by far with eyes like that and he had just met her today. "Aria-san!"

"Aria," the dark haired girl corrected, removing the 'san'. "So you work here too Isogai?"

Isogai frowned, "Wait, did you just say too?"

After Aria explained she would be working here as well, Isogai took her to the manager's office to get her ready for her first shift. After covering the last administration matters she was given her uniform. It was similar to Isogai's, but the past was replaced with a knee length skirt, but the same shirt, vest and apron. Since Isogai was the first employee to bring Aria in, he was offered by the manager to show her 'the works' around the café. He took her on a short tour, explaining where to find everything and so on but because she had worked in a café before, there weren't many questions.

"You know we're not allowed to have part time jobs right?" Isogai asked. It obviously wasn't meant as a threat but he seemed concerned since Aria said she was new to the school so she might not know all of the rules.

"I do." Aria replied, she tossed a dishcloth over her arm, holding a notebook to her chest. "But it's kind of all I can do for money."

"Me too." Isoga admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "This is actually the reason I was sent to E-class because I broke the school conduct."

'Least you weren't blackmailed.' Aria thought, but that was one thing she preferred remain a secret. Gakushu wouldn't be able to bother her in E-class. She enjoyed the prospect of distance from someone who could make her worry.

"But if the school found me out one more time…"

"Don't worry. I haven't told anyone about working here either and don't intend to." Aria swore.

Isogai's shoulders seemed to go lax as he breathed out a little too long. "Then we'll keep it between us; Aria."

She held up her hand, clenched in her fist aside from her pinkie. "Promise?"

He hooked his pinkie with hers, grinning. "Promise."

* * *

Since there was no homework that evening because of all of the disruptions during lessons; Aria was able to come home, bath and sleep straight after which gave her the following morning to wake up early and arrive to campus a few minutes before the first bell. When Aria entered the classroom, she greeted several of her new classmates who had called out to her before taking her seat. Across from her, she could hear the ripping sound of tape. One of the students she had not become acquainted with yesterday, a bulky boy with short brown hair dyed blonde around the sides; was taping up the machine. She knew his name, Ryoma Terasaka.

"Think that tapes going to keep her from pulling out the guns." Aria didn't look at Terasaka when she spoke and had already taken out a book to read.

"I've had it with this damn thing." Terasaka said, pulling the tape around the box again. "I don't care about classes, but I sure as hell can't stand its noisy shooting!"

Aria rubbed the side of her head. "Truthfully, being right next to her is not ideal right now. You should take the tape around until most of the sides are covered so she can't take out her guns."

"What does it look like I'm doing!?" Terasaka snapped, pulling the tape around the machine box again.

"Taping up the Autonomous Intelligence Fix Artillery, because she annoyed you." Arai stated

"Smart ass." Terasaka grumbled.

Aria calmly flipped to the next page of her book, "Objectively I am smart but my ass doesn't have anything to do with it."

There were a few snickers around the classroom, but Terasaka didn't comment back to Aria after that.

* * *

At exactly eight am, the Autonomous Intelligence Fix Artillery had booted up; after checking setting and ready to begin 'her' assault on Koro-sensei, when she stood up and found her vision obscured by a line of tape and unable to take out her guns, the openings all restrained. Everyone was watching her, already seated for first period.

"Koro Sensei, I cannot take out my guns like this. Please remove my restraints." There was only a stoic mechanical voice behind the stoic digitalised face.

Koro Sensei rubbed the side of his round head, "Well, I don't know."

"Is this your doing?" she asked. "Clearly it is harming me, in violation of our agreement."

"Wrong!" Terasaka threw the left over roll of tape at the the AI's body. "It was me. You're a pain in the ass anyway you look at it. Learn some common sense before you start firn' away ya box box of bolts!"

Some other students chipped in their agreements with the machines behaviour and because the restraints remained on her; lessons were able to go on as per normal-although Aria didn't thin, it was normal when students continued to attempt to assassinate their teacher. Aria was determining for herself whether or not she was going to allow herself to become involved in these assassination attempts. Nagisa had given her a brief of some of their previous assassination attempts. They tried using fire arms all at once but that failed, then Sugino attempted to kill him by pitching a fast ball embedded with BB's in them; then a smaller group attempted to catch him off guard and Koro Sensei ended up taking their guns and replacing it with tulips (which they girls had been growing so they made him replant everything.) When Karma came into the mix and he seemed most likely to be able to kill Koro Sensei-but even with his tricks there weren't enough to catch the octopus-like creature off guard long enough to land a strike. Irina aka Bitch sensei, also arrived in order to defeat Koro Sensei but failed to. Then they were supposed to use their trip to Kyoto and team up with professional assassins to take him out but as Koro Sensei was still alive, that had also clearly failed. Nagisa also mentioned that he had started listing all of Koro Sensei's weakness, whatever he could find, the smallest details although Aria didn't bother to ask for them.

Starring up at the ceiling with peeling paint in its corners, Aria rolled onto her side. Starring into darkness as if she could see the world. Her hands hanging in front of her. Koro Sensei's methods of teaching were different when compared to the other teacher's-different but not in a way that it was any less promising. No matter the change in atmosphere moving from A-class to E, despite no longer having to look over her shoulder. It didn't change the fact that there was an assassination happening right in her classroom. Her classmates, including her friend were playing the part as assassins while going about their days as if the world wasn't in their hands. There were still a few months left, but like everything else, there was a deadline that would draw in closer with each passing day and when you counted them down-you'd come to realise your life span has just shortened in an instant.

"Just can't,"

She had been taught a lot about taking lives but not much about how to live your own. Assassins were meant to eliminate people that became problems for others. Not petty problems that would be solved with time, but the kind of problems that would stop the world-or in this case-end it. Some would call it noble, a great sacrifice. But to Aria, murder is murder and living a life with the purpose of taking others was not living.

"And yet…" Aria held up her hand to the moonlight glaring through her window. Her hand shook, twitching and threatening her. "I'm getting restless already…"

* * *

The third day came as a surprise to everyone when they walked into the classroom and found some new modifications done to the Autonomous Intelligence Fix Artillery. Her small screen had been replaced with a full body screen that allowed her entire body to be captured in the school uniform, her eyes had been re-coloured to blue and she was able show all kinds of emotions-including sad when Terasaka called her a box of bolts. Koro Sensei had emptied his pockets for the upgrades to make the AI seem more…human. Koro Sensei upgraded her for the purpose of having her work together with the rest of the class instead of alone.

"If you want to kill me, I imagine she'll be a formidable ally."

'I actually don't get this,' Aria thought, looking at the fixed artillery. It was only two days ago she was firing arms at Koro Sensei through every period and now she was sneaking answers to the students and getting scolded for it. Through the day, she played board games with the students, showed them her ability to make sculptures using special plastic inside of her and more.

"Koro Sensei does realise that these upgrades are more likely to end his life." Aria stated.

Turning her now fully articulated box, Autonomous Intelligence Fix Artillery was facing Aria. "Yes, but Koro Sensei said to me, 'I'm your teacher first and target second.' He wants me to learn to work with my classmates and develop my skills. So until then, I shall hold off on any assassination attempts on my own."

Aria gave a small smile. Another puzzle piece had just made itself known to her eyes and she would be putting it in place.

Everyone decided that the Autonomous Intelligence Fix Artillery was too much of a mouthful and decided to shorten it, taking Autonomous, translating to jiritsu.  
"Ritsu" Aria said, thinking of her former co-worker.

"That's it!" exclaimed Yuzuki Fuwa, a girl with short purple hair and a love for anime and manga. "Ritsu."

"Crop out." Commented Ryunosuke Chiba. A boy with dark hair and bangs that covered his eyes completely.

"It's cute!"

Nagisa walked in between the gap of Aria and Karma's desks; so that he could talk to both. "Seems like things are going to work out after all."

"I wouldn't be too sure." Karma commented, his hands in his pockets. "She's just following Koro Sensei's programming. It's not like machines have free wills of their own. Wherever she goes from here, is up to the guys who built her."

Aria walked over to Karma's desk, her hands behind her back. Leaving the group of students to keep Ritsu's attention. "I can't say I completely agree with that statement. We have wills of our own but it's not like our brains can't be hacked and hard wired as well."

"Sure, but we've got the capacity to use our wills to resist those kinds of things and endure." Karma pointed back. He seemed rather amused by the conversation they were starting.

"She's able to learn on her own. That's enough to develop." Aria said, her expression a bit distant. "You can say it's all according to programming, but human instincts are basically the same." Aria said, looking at her hands. "Emotions, reactions, behaviour, memories stored away that we just can't forget, we struggle to go against them using our will and yet-we still can't resist our own programming."

Aria slid her hand at the back of her neck until she touched the smallest bumps of ink etched into her skin. She didn't know when she been tagged, they would sedate you before doing that but when she woke up, they showed her the number, red and fresh but now it was faded in as if it always belonged there. As thought it was always a part of her. Even if she could forget, that number would always be there to remind her.

What she was, who she was, is-

"Nothing."

Nagisa raised his head, "You say something Aria?"

She smiled; although it did not reach her eyes (not that you could tell)

"Nothing."

* * *

That melancholic atmosphere trailed after Aria until the next day; she came to class and found that Ritsu, had been restored to her former state. Her creator had discovered that her new upgrades had her deciding that she wouldn't be working alone anymore with consecutive attacks on Koro Sensei. Therefore, they restored all of her former programming and defaults. The LCD screen was removed and replaced with a smaller one. Karasuma came in that morning and warned Koro Sensei that upgrades would now be considered 'harm' and Terasaka was no longer allowed to restrain her anymore or he would be responsible for any damages.

When Aria saw Ritsu's restored red eyes, the passive expression, she felt her stomach give a terrible twist.

" _Listen 62. Don't ask questions, that is not what we are training you for. You cannot look at the world and see it as everyone else. You must remove all colour from your vision and focus on your target. You are a Phoenix, you are a weapon. There is no such thing as choices for someone like you."_

Aria clenched her hands tightly around the cover of her book; losing track of Koro Sensei's lesson. The classroom filled with anxiety, knowing that with Ritsu's default programming restored, they were probably going to be looking at another day long assault. However when the sides of her box's parts broke apart to where her guns should have been, instead of a spray of bullets, came a spray of flower petals, all in an array of different colours. Holding out four bouquets.

"I promised to make flowers. Koro Sensei made 985 improvements to my body. My master judged most of them irrelevant to the assassination, removed them and restored my factory defaults." Ritsu said. "But what I learned from the E-Class, I decided for myself that my ability to cooperate was essential to assassination. So before it was deleted, I hid it in the corner of memory inside a related piece of software."

Koro Sensei sounded impressed, "Excellent! Ritsu this must mean...

"Yes" Ritsu's face appeared on the screen, her eyes returned to blue. "Yes, I have defied my master of my own will!"

Everyone seemed impressed by Ritsu's development. Aria watched as the plastic petals scattered on her desk, she pinched one between her fingers and rolled it around. Aria smiled, looking back to her book. 'I really am just like a machine after all.'


	11. L and R time: Lessons and Retribution

**Hey everyone. I've finished my exams and while I was studying I couldn't help but come back to this Fanfic and thought that it's been too long since I gave it attention. So I started reading and well-Here's the next chapter because I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I hope you enjoy this.**

 **Also if you're reading Through the Spy Glass, that has also been updated!**

Having entered the E-class, Aria found herself in the utmost oddest of circumstances. She hadn't imagined that her attempts to remove herself from the world of assassination by escaping from the very institution she had been living in for years, only to find herself enrolled in yet another practicing assassination but with the oddest twist where the one giving the teachings on assassination was also the target. It was one of the closest things Aria could place as comedic. The student's weren't that much different either, the regular gathering of the E-class expectant; that were being assigned as assassins.

It all so far from what Aria believed a junior-high school was meant to be like.

What was also fascinating was the fact that this class also had an assassin teaching them; Irina. Her appearance had been what led Aria to come to the E-class satellite campus in the first place but it had proven to be an error in judgment just as quickly. The arrangement of what was meant to be her ordinary life had taken an unexpected, unwanted and peculiar turn.

" _Wow, sexy guy, it's a miracle-what really_?"

Irina was teaching the class English ' everyday chit chat' as she put it but everyone proved to have issues with their L's and R's because of their inherited Japanese manner of speaking. Even Aria had admittedly struggled with these but it wasn't often considered a problem to have an accent, although there were speech classes that had to be taken for the five languages every Phoenix agent chose but that did not mean the accent would completely be erased and it was often difficult to maintain.

Everyone was trying their best though because Irina had threatened to French kiss them in front of everyone.

Aria leaned forward on her hand, listening half-attentively to the lesson. Glancing outside of the window passed the trees towards the forest where she had to outrun Karasuma; then back into the classroom over everyone's heads. These were regular students during lesson times but as soon as break came, the main topic of discussion was 'How to kill Korosensei'. The plotting on many different types of inventive methods and sometimes playing them out once their teacher was in sight. The main factor was how to either immobilize or distract their teacher on account of his inhumane speed. Their motive for killing; to literally save the world and the other reasons well there were 10 billion of them.

Yet that was also surreal to Aria. When she thought that the fate of the world had literally been placed in the hands of a group of teenagers who were struggling with their existence in a private school with a policy that discriminated against those that were not as academically inclined as the rest.

'This entire place….' Aria clutched her pen tightly in her hands.

"Don't run from your incapability's….master them!" Irina told her class.

* * *

" _Could you please tell me how to get to my destination?_ "

 _"Cood y-you please tell me how to get to my destonation-ya!"_

Nagisa yelped when Aria grabbed his face and started stretching his cheeks; he felt the light breeze blowing on the inside of his mouth, making it dry. He continued to pull against Aria's hold but she refused to let him go.

"Say it again," Aria repeated for the fifth time

In a bit of a muffle voiced Nagisa spoke: " _Could….could you please tell me how to get to my destination?"_

Aria grinned and removed her hands from Nagisa's face watching as he rubbed his sore cheeks "There's no point in understanding English if you can't get the pronunciation right. For instance, people tend to assume right with-

"It's difficult when you roll your tongue so differently pronouncing a word." Nagisa defended, still rubbing his cheeks. Nagisa and Aria were sitting outside together

"You said you wanted some help with your English. Practicing like this is the only way." Aria stated, "You heard Irina-sensei talk about your L's and R's; _Like, really, light, right, wrong, collect, locket._ You try."

Nagisa just stared at the sooty haired girl with wide eyes, "No thank you."

"Come on Nagisa; it's difficult not impossible."

Nagisa and Aria had taken to the staircase leading up the building from the back in front of the huge field that had been redefined as a sports field, it had running lanes and a soccer field with the nets set out neatly for the games. That was one of the advantages of having a classroom out in the mountains. Although from what Nagisa told her; it was Koro-Sensei who had cleaned the weeds in the area and repainted the field.

They were working on their speech, or rather Aria was helping Nagisa since she didn't have any problem with 'every day chit chat' speech, though he was great with the language itself, speaking it came as a challenge as it did to most Japanese students.

"How can you speak English so well?" asked Nagisa

Twirling a short strange of her hair Aria began explaining, hardly missing a beat despite the topic. "My father was a foreigner who moved here for work. English was his first language so I picked it up from him."

Nagisa's eyes seemed to spark with interest, he knew nearly nothing about her family because she never mentioned them and he felt it wasn't a subject you push in case but if she was willing to share he wasn't going to turn deaf. She lived alone so he was assuming the situation was 'complicated' he just didn't know the details and that meant he couldn't address them either.

"Alright next sentence… _I would really appreciate your assistance. Of course, right away._ "

" _I would lreally appreciate your_ -ow-ow-ow-ow, Aria!" Nagisa cried out as the girl started pulling on his cheeks again, but she didn't hold onto them too long before letting go.

"Stick your tongue out from your mouth a little when you want to pronounce L and then bring it in and keep it in the middle of your mouth, a bit uplifted so it will rattle when you pronounce R."

Karma then came over to the two; holding a small pink drinking box with a strawberry on it he strolled over to them, his one hand in his pocket. "What are you two doing? I thought I saw Glass-eyes pinching you." Karma addressed Nagisa.

"Karma, that's kinda rude-

"I'm helping Nagisa with his English, Tomato," Aria replied with a smile; she noticed Karma's brow twitch slightly with annoyance at the nickname she had chosen for him.

"Oh that L and R stuff, Bitch-sensei was talking about today."

"What about you Karma? I know that you're good in English too." Nagisa said as he continued to rub his cheeks that were tinted slightly red.

"Mmm, that kinda things not a weakness for me. _I'm already really good_." Karma replied his last bit in English for emphasis. To which Aria responded.

 _"That's true but everyone has a weakness when it comes to speech and communication._ "

 _"Not me,"_ Karma replied to Aria in English, not wanting to be outdone by her in this matter. He was after all one of the best students in the E-class and while he was appearing to be lax; what always bothered him more than anything was losing or being outdone; especially by those who succeeded in catching his attention.

 _"Yours could be your mannerism with which you speak. To me, you sound sadistic which in my experience often repulses or scares people. It makes you unappealing."_

Right now, Nagisa wished he wasn't this good at English to be able to comprehend what Aria had just said. He slapped a hand over his mouth; he had already understood that Aria was blunt and dangerously genuine when voicing her opinions but he thought she would be able to understand that there were certain limits, especially when it came to Karma. Karma might not give the impression at first because of the way he usually behaved, but he actually had a very short temper and never bothered to suppress it, instead, he took it out on whatever had set that fuse alight. Right now Aria was unknowingly holding the match.

Karma smirked, but his eyes had changed to hold a sharper look in them, one of warning. _"And you're so stupidly naïve to think that you can just keep bluntly saying whatever you want without consequence."_

 _"I do consider consequence, but I have yet to meet someone who is worth the consideration of delivering it. I think it would be a waste of time to let words of consequence from people who can't deliver deter me._ " As her conversation pressed on with Karma Aria was beginning to get an unappealing discomfort in her. It was starting to feel similar to when she spoke with Gakushu. It was the kind of feeling she got that caused her to make small slips such as, " _Just like you."_

Nagisa covered his face with his hands, 'Oh my god!'

Another thing Karma did not like was to be underestimated or underrated, it was similar to arrogance in this sense but it was the source of his pride, his ego and when people tried to pry at it; to crack his sense of self-he cracked their skulls.

"Aria, please stop talking."

"But why?" she asked curiously.

A vein appeared on the side of Karma's forehead, "Oh? So basically I'm not worth the consideration as a consequence?"

"Well yes, that's my opinion."

"Are you trying to test me?" Karma asked, hinting with a dangerous undertone.

"Not in particular but it seems that's your assumption."

Then the signal for break ended; much to Nagisa's relief. He mouthed a small 'thank you' to the sky before moving in.

"Okay, let's get back to the classroom!" Nagisa chided with a wry smile; he held out his hands in between Aria and Karma as if it was going to be a strong enough barrier between the two.

Aria was the first to make a move to stand, she casually dusted off the back of her skirt and picked up the plastic bags that were the leftovers of her store-bought lunch. She looked over at Nagisa and smiled.

"Come on then, let's go."

"I'll be there in a second." He said signaling for the girl to go in without him.

Nagisa stood up, he glanced at Karma and nearly jumped back when he saw the wide grin on Karma's face. It was the kind of grin he got right before he was about to start a fight with someone and then there was the wild glint in his eyes that was similar to an animal about to pounce on their prey. It was amazing how a few short-yet completely genuinely truthful statements from Aria had made Karma like this.

"Karma?"

His smirk widened, "This is going to be fun."

* * *

The following day during physical education; Aria soon realized that this place was not only allowing assassination but acting as a beacon for other assassins because of Korosensei's presence. Karasuma had come to the class with a disturbed expression and it stayed like this all the way during the lesson.

Aria looked at the two poles she had to stand on, above them was stand with balls painted like Korosensei's face attached to a string. They had to practice their balance and knife skills like this.

The knife in Aria's hand was green and rubber; harmful to only her one teacher. "Are you alright getting up?" Karasuma asked.

Aria nodded, placing the side of the knife in her mouth before jumping up and balancing herself onto the platforms, the Korosensei ball in front of her.

"Hey Aria, aren't you getting hot in the undershirt?" asked Hinano Kurahashi. She was a petite girl with short wavy orange hair and fading green eyes with a bright expression. She was standing on the poles right next to Aria.

"Not really," Aria replied. She always wore a long-sleeve outside-she needed to.

Aria mimicked everyone, taking stabs at the ball. The exercise may have seemed easy to the eye but it required balance and precision and you had to be unafraid of the ball to bounce back at you and knock you off the poles.

'This is assassins training huh?' Aria thought, feeling slightly bemused while she continued to jab her knife forward. The rubber was soft and wouldn't cut anything aside from their teacher if anyone was able to get a hold of him.

Karasuma watched Aria carefully since this was her first time training but she already had a good sense of balance compared to how the other students were when they first began this training; then again he assumed she had some sort of gymnastic background like Hinata Okano; she also adapted easier to these sort of exercises. However, her speed, adaptability, and parkour-that didn't look like ordinary gymnastic training to him.

Aria was continuously thrusting her knife forward and hitting the ball in front of her, without a sign of resistance or struggle. Then an urging to turn her head came about and she stopped, looking to her left near the forest. There she saw Irina, Korosensei dressed as a ninja and another man. He had short black hair and sharp brown eyes giving way to an intimidating appearance. Creased lines in his skin showing his age. He was dressed in a black suit and long grey trench coat.

She wasn't the only one who noticed though because Kurahashi called on Karasuma, "Karasuma-sensei, over there."

"Just ignore them. Continue the exercise."

PE was a bit difficult when everyone was staring back at their strange spectators and after class Karasuma sat everyone down on the field to explain to them the reason for the onlookers; that there was going to be another assassination of sorts taking place.

His own.

* * *

Yesterday after school while the teachers were all still there; they had a visitor appear; this was a man known as Lovro. Aria knew the name well enough of this person; he was yet another assassin of Phoenix Academy to idolize. Although he was retired now, he had a reputation for being one of the most talented assassins of his time. Now he made a fortune training youngsters to become assassins and getting them hired. Of course, this was similar to what Phoenix did, but the difference was that Lovro was considered more of a freelancer. He had apparently shown up to bring Irina back as it didn't seem that she would be succeeding in killing KorosenseI. So she was being withdrawn but Irina was refusing to leave, so Korosensei had chided in a solution for a sham assassination on Karasuma; one of them would have to 'kill' him and whoever succeeded would get their way as the prize.

Of course, it was obvious that Karasuma didn't have much say in the matter as he was muttering about the 'stupid octopus' making his own decisions just for a laugh.

"Anyway, that's the case. So expect some disruptions today, though your classes should remain unaffected." Karasuma explained to the group.

Aria sat like the rest of the classroom with her knees tucked up to her chest, if not a bit more uncomfortable with the position. Her placement of normality was feeling more disrupted by the simplicity of this sham assassination.

In short, it irritated her.

"It doesn't seem like we're going to be having regular classes today." Aria leaned her hand on her knee.

"Mmm," Nagisa nodded in agreement, "Karasuma-sensei can't catch a break."

Without replying, Aria turned to her right to look down the field where she saw Irina coming down to them with an open pink flask in her hand.

"Karasuma!

She cheerfully called Karasuma as she came closer. Praising him and then offering a drink. Everyone just stared at Irina with deadpan expressions of disbelief to think that she would try a seduction tactic like that. It was flawed for numerous reasons.

"Go on! Knock it back. It's delicious." Irina said, holding the cup out to Karasuma. All the students were whispering what Karasuma was thinking there was something in that drink that was not conventional.

"It's probably going to knock him out too," Aria whispered to Nagisa, who nodded in response.

Karasuma spoke to the class, with a wry expression. "Probably a muscle relaxant so she can immobilize and stab me."

The change of Irina's expression was enough to give her away; had she been seen like this now Aria was certain that all of her admirers from Phoenix would reel back on their idolization for the women. She was legendary for pulling off the greatest assassinations by means of seductions rather than brute force.

'Although once you're no longer a stranger, that air of seduction is quickly deduced to useless.'

Probably realizing that her plans weren't going to work, Irina attempted to switch tactics but it was in short, pathetic in comparison to her last when she faked falling and injuring herself to get Karasuma closer to her. He just walked away instead.

"This is kinda…painful to watch." Nagisa trailed as he stood up with Aria to leave since their P.E teacher didn't seem to be in the mood for anything today.

"When a target is fully aware like this they're going to be on guard. And she's not being very discrete." Aria said; crossing her arms she made a move to turn only to stop abruptly and turn sharply towards the forest area around the sports field. There was without a doubt someone watching in the distance. Her eyes widened, the blurred vision in the distance cleared and she saw Lovro standing there. He was watching the scene from the shadows, observing his student. Aria turned away, walking back with Nagisa.

"Is something wrong?"

"No."

* * *

Lovro had observed Irina's attempts to get Karasuma, partly he felt he couldn't blame his former student for her attempt as this was the type of assassination she initially used to but she should know that under the circumstances where the target is aware of the assassination that it wasn't possible for her to seduce them. Especially someone like Karasuma who came off as a lot more-rigid; than the targets Irina was used to.

While Irina was talking with two students, the rest went to take their leave to the classroom. Watching from the distance, Lovro noticed one of the students stop; a girl she turned her head over to where he stood and he instinctively moved closer behind the tree. As soon as she had looked over though she turned away to join the rest of her classmates.

'She couldn't have seen me could she?'

* * *

The rest of the classes had gone by without much disturbance aside from the usual class and assassination attempts; although there was a rule about assassination attempts during class. Korosensei didn't want the students disrupting the class with assassination attempts and were meant to focus on their studies only, during this period. It didn't make much sense to Arai to wait though when the assassination literally had the entire world at stake.

That was what Aria thought about whistle she sat in the classroom eating her lunch and paging through a book of which it's content she had failed to see the meaning to when she was still lost in her thoughts; ignorant of the chatters around her from the other students.

Glancing at Aria by the desk-glance at Karma by the window and so on; that had been Nagisa's pattern for the last three minutes as he watched his two friends. Yesterday's short encounter between Karma and Aria made him admittedly dry-throated and nervous. Nagisa had been one of Karma's few friends while they were at the main campus and he knew the kind of person Karma was. His nature, what he liked and disliked and his tells-that included a certain look he had on his face after Aria walked away.

'Korosensei might not be his only assassination target now.'

Aria, of course, being as she was, seemed completely oblivious to the kind of target she had just set on herself. She had unknowingly challenged Karma.

"Karma…" Nagisa tapped his friend's shoulder to get his attention. Karma turned around to acknowledge him with a quick 'sup'.

"Um Karma, what happened with you and Aria yesterday; are you okay?"

Karma suddenly grinned, closing his eyes in a seemingly innocent manner with a light tone he replied, "Of course Nagisa! That was just a little banter, nothing to think twice about."

Nagisa's shoulders sagged and it was not on account of relief. "Yup, you're up to something."

"Of course not."

"Karma, I know that Aria might seem kinda blunt but that's just the way she is. I don't think you should take it personally."

Karma just continued to smile, patting Nagisa's shoulder with a little force but not enough to hurt. "I told you Nagisa, it was just a little scuffle. It's not like I'm going to try and do something savage to her. In fact, I'd like to know more about her. What's her favorite food; activities…worst nightmares."

Nagisa gulped; he could somehow depict Karma seeping a dark aura around him and he knew that there was no sense in trying to talk Karma out of whatever his intentions were. He was conflicted because this time Karma was going to aim his guns at Aria and she was completely unaware of it.

"Karma, I'm telling you Aria just-

Karma turned his head away to look out of the window and pointed to Karasuma who was sitting under a tree, eating his lunch. He seemed in complete contrast with the natural scenery in a full white shirt-black tie suit meant for something in the commerce faculty. Yet there he was sitting under a tree eating his lunch.

"Hey look at that," Karma said noticing someone else coming into his line of vision who contrasted with the outdoor scenery. "Looks like Bitch-sensei is at it again."

Everyone moved to the window and temporarily, Nagisa decided to leave the topic of Aria for another time. Aria had left her seat as well to take a look at what was happening on the other side of the window; she piled through with everyone else, allowed to move to the front since she wasn't one of the tallest students in her class. A little above Nagisa's height.

Irina was approaching Karasuma with one of the green rubber knives meant for Koro-sensei as they were harmless to humans but perfectly effective against the teacher. On the other hand, Aria heard that while those were effective against him; weapons that were harmful to humans he was immune to. It was an interesting twist.

"What's she thinking?"

"She knows that she can't catch Karasuma off guard like that right?"

There were murmurs of the same context going around the classroom as they observed the spectacle. It didn't' look like Irina was making an effort to hide her attempt to attack Karasuma. The class grew a little rowdier when they could see Irina taking off her white blazer and dropping it down at Karasuma's feet.

"Is she trying to seduce him again?" asked Sugino.

"There's no way this is going to work," Maehara stated confidently.

Aria kept her arms crossed, watching the scene unfold. Irina couldn't have been that conspicuous right? She was a professional for a reason. No matter how good she was with seduction assassination or if that was all she had learned while under training; she would have developed her own sense of understanding when a plan would go array. With her knife held high, Irina didn't go straight to attack Karasuma, instead, she moved around the tree and stopped; her lips moving but no one could hear what she said.

Then it all happened instantly.

Irina pushed on her heel, holding tightly onto a nearly unseen piece of string that was attached to her coat; when she pulled it one of her coats arms hooked onto Karasuma's leg and as he wasn't expecting it; had ended up falling on his back and that's when Irina literally took the chance to pounce on top of him.

Everyone cheered as they realized Irina's plan to catch Karasuma off guard and have succeeded. The anticipation grew as Irina raised her knife into the air then thrust it toward Karasuma. However, recovering from a fraction of his shock Karasuma grabbed hold of Irina's hands to stop the knife from hitting him as that was all it took for the assassination to have been a success. However, after some more struggling Karasuma's hold went lax and he visibly sighed before releasing Irina's hands and letting her 'stab' him in his chest.

That was enough to hype the students watching who had become filled with pride for whatever reason towards their teacher. Some were even clapping and cheering on.

Aria looked away from the window and moved back to her desk, turning to the next page of her book.

'A sham assassination?' her fingers curled against the paper, nearly to the point where it would rip.

 _It was a simple mission; one target with minimal status, barely reaching the criteria for the job. No need for espionage nor further digging; all information provided as well as location it was like following the directions on a manuscript. In fact, it was so simple that only two agents were sent; both unsullied-both fledglings. Both familiar with one another by now. And both had the issue of needing to graduate. Therefore the academy had come to a decision to allow the two to go out under 'supervision' without interference or assistance, merely spectating. The two agents had successfully tracked their target and had cornered him. Now it was the matter of who was going to gain their final credentials to pass._

" _COME ON 62-DO IT"_

 _The voice that screamed at her; that should've echoed through her whole body was just a compressed thud in comparison to her own heartbeat that she could hear booming in her hears and vibrating through her whole body. Her breaths were coming out in short pants, yet it didn't feel like she was breathing at all. She stared at the figure in front of her; a man's body leaning against the wall; his leg bleeding from the small bullet that she implanted in him._

 _Her target was so close; she knew it. Just one bullet at the distance they were and it would be over instantly and then she would reach her goal. It seemed so simple when it was explained to her and yet she couldn't do it._

 _She heard the voice of her partner, still shouting at her yet it was in a cheering manner as he encouraged her; telling her to hurry along and do what needed to be done. Do what she was assigned to do._

 _While she could see nothing but the absolute terror on the man's' face; she could feel nothing but her own fear running through her body like a flowing river. Her hands felt numb and heavy as she held the gun up, her finger on the trigger; which she had pulled so easily before now suddenly felt like it had locked itself preventing her from firing again. Her right foot extended back slightly, on the tip of her sole, slightly curved; if only she could gather the strength for further motions._

 _She could feel her hands growing wet with perspiration, along with her face even though the weather was cold that night._

" _GO ON 62-THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE MADE FOR. PULL THE TRIGGER!"_

 _She continued to stare at the man trembling before her; she felt her throat go dry as she applied more pressure she didn't think was possible to the handle and her foot curved further-but then she saw the man's eyes in front of her flash. Going from the frightened deer in the headlights to merciless as he reached into his pocket and flung out a gun. She shut her eyes._

 _The trigger sounded._

 _She didn't feel anything; there was no pain from the bullet tearing through her skin, flesh, and tendons, there was no loss of warmth, no metallic taste that was meant to come after being shot. Just the sound of footsteps in the silence and the clashing of clouds from the sky signaling for rain._

" _Open your eyes 62."_

 _Doing as ordered, she opened her eyes to the sight of a lax body in front of her, the target laying with his head tilted in an uncomfortable angle, his eyes wide open but blank from their loss of life, the blood drilling down his forehead from where the bullet was lodged, running down and dripping from his chin as tears would. From behind him, a visible splash of red. When she felt again, she realized that some of that had gotten on her face as well. Small splatters, yet she couldn't bring her body to move._

" _Take a good look 62," her instructor stated. "This is what happens to those fools who waver, linger and are just a second too late." A firm hand fell on her shoulder and the voice grew softer so that only she would hear. "There is no point in having the knowledge to use the tools you've been given if one does not have the will to use them."_

 _She didn't move still; she didn't say anything. Simply staring at the dead body in front of her._

" _You won't be able to reach him at this rate."_

 _A third voice entered then; the agent's superior that had been assigned to observe them and evaluate._

" _Good job 68-it looks like you're ready."_

 _A light snicker trickled into her ears as she felt a slight pressure on the side of her cheek, a warmth pressing to it before it was gone along with the hand on her shoulder._

" _Better luck next time baby doll."_

A bitter taste filled Aria's mouth and she quickly swallowed it down, tasting the jelly donut she had and suddenly disliking it.

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That day on, Aria didn't dwell much on the goals of the E-class to assassinate their teacher. The rest of her time was filled with reading the material, doing her work accordingly and so on. Hardly blinking at the mention of the assassination by the other students who could continue about their day as if it was a regular topic-which in a way it was just as it wasn't.

Aria soon came to realize what was worth noting in the classroom and what wasn't. So far there hadn't been anything 'out of the ordinary' and she found herself able to cope quite alright with her work. In fact, she found that Korosensei was very efficient in these terms for a teacher who was literally the target of assassination for his whole class.

One day at the end of class, Nagisa and Karma came up to her desk right after she pulled her book bag around her shoulder and slipped her chair back into her desk.

"Hey Aria, we're going to go ask Korosensei to take us with him to Hawaii, do you want to come?"

Aria paused, "Going to Hawaii, why?"

"Sonic Ninja is premiering there tonight; we heard Koro-sensei talking about it. Are you deaf as well as blind Glass-eyes?" Karma asked sarcastically.

"You know I'm not deaf or blind Tomato," Aria stated. "I do want to go and see the movie though."

Nagisa's impatience overran his worry about Aria and Karma's issues in the company. Least in the movies, there wouldn't be a lot of talking. "Yeah, so what do you say? We've gotta catch up to Korosensei before he takes off."

Aria took out her cell phone and sent a quick message to Isogai, telling him to inform their manager that she wasn't going to be coming in for work today and that she would make it up with a double shift over the weekend. He responded quickly enough and told her 'no problem'; she then put her phone away.

"Okay, let's go."

* * *

Korosensei was standing outside, stretching his tentacles when Nagisa, Aria, and Karma came up to him. Nagisa was holding up a magazine with the advertisement for Sonic Ninja.

"Korosensei, please take us with you."

"Oh, you kids like that franchise too?" Koro-sensei asked, sounding surprised.

Nagisa smiled, "Yeah, we've been waiting for the sequel."

Korosensei looked at Karma, "I didn't expect you to be into superhero movies Karma."

Grabbing a stand of his hair, Karma tugged on it lightly explaining that he liked the director; who actually hardly dealt with comic material. Aria then figured out that the friend Nagisa once referred to who liked Sonic Ninja as well as Karma.

"And you're also a fan Aria?"

She nodded, smiling up at her teacher, "I really enjoyed watching the first movie and reading the comics."

"I'd like to come too!" Another voice chimed in, coming from Nagisa's cell in his pocket. Nagisa pulled out his phone and looked at the screen, Ritsu appeared holding up a sign pardoning her intrusion on the boy's device.

"Ritsu, why are you on my phone?"

Ritsu explained that she downloaded her data onto everyone's phone as a means to facilitate information sharing amongst the students. As for coming along to the movies; she really wanted to experience the speed of Mach 20 and perhaps find out some weaknesses of Koro-sensei's during this time.

"Alright then, it'll be a bit of a tight fit but I'm sure you'll all be fine as I give you a taste of my speed!"

The three students barely felt themselves move before they were tightly confined in Koro-sensei's large gown, Nagisa on the right, Karma on the left and Aria in the middle little ways in front of them. The feeling was similar to that of standing in line for a roller coaster, you were excited until you actually reach the front and go in, realize what you're about to do but can't turn back because you are already strapped in your seats with no means of escape.

Nagisa gulped, "Guys, I asked on a whim but now that we're actually doing this…."

"Neither one of you considered the safety of traveling at Mach 20 did you?" Aria asked bluntly, feeling her stomach churn.

"Apparently neither did you." Karma pointed out, grinning still although is throat was a little dry all of a sudden. Ritsu was fine as her main body was still in the classroom and only her data on their phones but the rest of them were made of flesh and bones-which were actually not as durable.

"Don't' worry," Korosensei reassured the group of four. "I'll accelerate gently so no one gets hurt."

With that Korosensei took off, a huge gust of wind blowing from the impact when he ascended into the air. The wild rush made the student's stomachs churn in an uncomfortable delight and then settled once Korosensei started moving forward through the air now.

Everyone looked down at the view of the urban area, the buildings and residents then very soon leading out into the ocean that was far more vast, spotting a few ships in the deep blue.

"So fast!" Nagisa gasped.

Karma laughed, "I can see the Pacific ocean!"

Aria stared silently in wonder the sight, she hadn't gotten an aerial view like this before and she was certain no one else had either. As Korosensei continued to speed across the water, they were barely able to catch sight of a few boats or marine life that might have been coming out for the surface because of the speed they were going at, no one really cared though for the experience was worth the glimpses.

* * *

After some time, the sun began to set, Nagisa noted that there wasn't a lot of wind or sound because Korosensei's head had been deflecting most of it. Korosensei went to explain that it was his skin that hardened under pressure to endure Mach wind pressure. After that, the rest of their journey went on with a science lecture on a similar material in everyday lives that was like Koro-sensei's skin. He had even brought materials for the demonstration; that included a beaker, water, and cornstarch.

Ritsu then whispered to them, "Why don't you assassinate him now? I think this is the best chance."

"That's crazy talk Ritsu." Karma deadpanned replied. "We'd all plop in the ocean."

"Unless you were counting on a suicide assassination," Aria commented.

"We're not." Nagisa clarified.

* * *

The time had gone by quickly then, Korosensei was just reaching the end of his lecture before the island of Hawaii came into view. The sky had darkened completely and all the lights had turned on illuminating everything with a breathtaking view. Korosensei landed on the roof of the movie theatre. Before they went down, he had changed his skin color to appear human and put on a fake nose and black wig.

Aria took the time they had to admire the view overlooking the docks leading down to the beach where several boats were parked.

"This is the first time I've been to Hawaii."

"Too bad we can't take a tour," Karma said.

"Not if you want to make it for the movie, now come along students."

* * *

Aria couldn't help but stare in awe at the size of the theatre; she had forgotten what it looked like having gone so little times that she could count on one hand how many but her memories of that time were blurred like most of her childhood. There was a large screen pasted in front of the cold room, surrounded by dozens of rows of seats. Her head continued to dart around from one point to another.

"What's going on with you?" Karma asked as they took their seats. Aria was sitting in between Nagisa and Karma while Korosensei was on the right side of Nagisa. "Never been in a theatre before?"

"I haven't been to one in years," Aria replied before taking one of the pink blankets offered by Korosensei who had given each of them one to huddle up with. Even Ritsu had changed her own schematics to put on a coat and gloves.

"This is exciting, it's my first time in a theatre."

"But this is an America screening, they won't have Japanese subtitles," Nagis said

"Don't worry, the three of you have good English grades and Irina-sensei has been working hard with you." Korosensei then extended three small tenticles with a round bud, telling them to put it in their ear and he would explain to them any unusual words that would crop up. After that, he gave them each their own popcorn and soda to enjoy the movie.

There wasn't much disturbance during the movie, everyone's eyes were fixated on the screen for nearly two full hours; there was the occasional boisterous fan who would give out a cheer during certain fight scenes but other than that it was pleasant. The three students were also just silently watching but Nagisa had to do a check in on Aria and Karma. His friend hadn't made any mischievous attempts as of yet and the way they were behaving towards one another resembled civil so perhaps he had overreacted, after all.

Karma's eyes were seemingly locked on the screen just like everyone else in the audience however there was a reason he had thrown the blanket over his legs instead of his shoulders like Aria and Nagisa had; first because it was pink with heart shaped smiley faces and second, using the dark, the noise and the blanket, Karma was able to slip a tube of mustard out of his pocket without being seen, unscrew it and carefully manoeuvre it to Aria's drink where he could squeeze some into the straw before she noticed. Karma waited for her to take a sip of her drinks so that he wouldn't get caught while she went for her soda; then when she put it down he immediately went into action.

Placing the tube which was equipped with a special tip to thin out the amount that would come out at a time; he carefully at the opening of the straw, he squeezed quickly, ensuring though that there was no sign of it on the external surface and then returned his attention to the screen. A smirk playing on his face as he eagerly waited.

Some might call him malicious but Karma considered it justifiable mischief when Aria had probed him more than once.

'I'm going easy on her anyway; it's not wasabi.' Karma thought, leaning back in his chair to watch the scene.

For a few minutes there was no reaction, Aria continued munching on her popcorn her eyes seemingly fixated on the screen. The film then took a turn into another big fight scene, there was an explosion in the world of the movie that destroyed half the city; the entire theatre went black and then slowly the screen light started to glow an orange warmth from the fire portrayed on the large screen.

Aria then reached for her drink and Karma didn't bother to glance, already detecting her movement from their proximity. His lip twitched upward while he continued to stare ahead of the movie. However after sometime when he didn't hear anything, he glanced over at Aria and saw her calmly placing her drink back in the cup holder.

'What the heck?' he frowned, turning away.

Karma gave no further indication of his disappointment and neither student looked each other's way as they kept on watching the movie. Although Karma would always pause when Aria went to take a sip of her drink but there was never any reaction from her.

'Did the tube not squirt anything or does she not have any taste buds to notice?" Karma wondered, before reaching for his own drink. He took a heavy sip and automatically tightened his lips to keep from spitting out the contents right in front of the audience. He could taste the tangy spiciness of the extra-hot mustard he had gotten.

And it did not mix well with soda slush.

Karma held his hand over his mouth, Nagisa noticed that he was fidgeting in his seat and leaned over. "Karma are you alright?"

"Fine," Karma growled which told Nagisa otherwise but also told him to leave it alone-whatever it was.

"He probably drank too fast," Aria told him.

Karma then glared over at Aria who was still watching the movie with unspoken tranquillity. She then looked over at him and held out a white handkerchief for him and smiled which only succeeded to further annoy him.

"I don't like mustard with my drinks-and apparently neither do you."

Taking the handkerchief so that he could wipe his mouth, Karma continued to glare at the girl who had just apparently outwitted him at his own game.

After wiping his mouth, he removed the handkerchief to reveal a visible smirk, "Not bad Glass-eyes. Switched the straws up on me huh? Pretty smart of you."

Aria shrugged, "Not that smart-you were just obvious."

Karma swallowed down his irritation in an attempt to make one last jab with his blade in hopes of hitting the target.

"Were you just trying to steal an indirect kiss, Aria-chan?"

"No, I was trying to avoid drinking mustard," Aria replied calmly. "But with you asking that question, could that have been your intention?"

Karma let out a sound that mimicked choking "Wha-

"Just asking, but I know it wasn't."

Karma narrowed his eyes at the girl, this girl certainly knew how to crawl under his skin. He hadn't been this annoyed with someone until Korosensei who kept foiling his assassination attempts when he first showed up in E-class. Now it was her who was managing to get the better of him.

Korosensei seemed completely oblivious as to what was happening since he was focusing on a scene that really 'emphasized' the main female character. It seemed that despite his sharp senses, he was easily distracted by his own preferences.

The movie was coming to its final scene; where the hero, the heroine and the villain were all facing off amongst the flames of chaos in the background from the fight. The heroine was standing in front of Sonic Ninja, protecting him from the villain coming towards them. But then the villain stopped; reaching for the devil mask on his face.

"You're saying that you would kill me, even if you knew who I really was?"

When he removed the mask, there was a man who resembled the heroine's appearance but with a far more masculine face.

"My brother?!"

* * *

After the movie Koro-sensei took off as quickly as possible so that they could return home; he stopped off in front of the E-class building. Nagisa was more than satisfied after watching the movie with the cliffhanger, saying it would leave them wanting more. Although Karma had to disagree saying that it was cliché for the heroine's brother to be the villain and Ritsu even said she could determine the ending by examining other Hollywood films.

"Cliché becomes cliché because people more than expect it; they want it," Aria said to them. "If they get anything else it's usually a disappointment."

"Ooh, so you liked the ending?" asked Karma to which Aria nodded and then turned to Korosensei as an example; who was balling over the concept of long-lost siblings.

"Thanks for the day, Korosensei," Nagisa said

Aria bowed with Nagisa, "Yes thank you very much."

"You're welcome, be careful on these roads at night okay kids." Koro-sensei waved before adding. "And write an English report on the movie for tomorrow."

* * *

'The experience was unusual.'

Was what Aria concluded after she came home that night; she took a quick shower, changed into her nightclothes and then went to the table to write her report on the movie as Korosensei had instructed them as payment for taking them to Haiwaii. It hadn't taken more than ten minutes for Aria to finish it though and the rest of the time she just sat at the table, letting her thoughts play through the experience.

By far she was yet to understand how things worked in that classroom. In the A-class she understood quickly how to function and adapt and she was able to do it easily because all that was required then was getting good grades. Manners, etiquette was irrelevant, as she had seen before. But in the E-class it was much more different than she expected; not just because of their teachers who were assassins, a target and someone from the Ministry of defense but even the students. They were able to go about the day like the assassination mission had no effect on their school lives. There were times when they would shoot at Korosensei or try to stab him whilst having a regular conversation. It was obvious they knew by now that Korosensei wouldn't be caught off guard and allow himself to get hit by them and at the same time, the students didn't seem to mind that.

Aria was confused about this prospect because everyone there was balancing on the line of being an assassin and being a student. Both seemed to be the priority and Aria didn't know how to fit in with that. In fact, she was positive that there was no way for her to fit in with that dynamic.

As Aria moved to the bed, she closed her eyes with one resolve.

" _I'll come back; just promise me…."_

" _I promise, nii-nii."_

" _What?"_

" _I promise-_

"Not to kill."

 **That's it for now! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and be sure to keep a look out for the next one since I already started on it.**

 **DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW**


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